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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


THE   NEW    EMPIRE 


•Tl^^)C^o 


-y^rj-is^fjQ 


THE    NEW     EMPIRE 


BY 


BROOKS   ADAMS 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  LAW  OF  CIVILIZATION  AND  DECAY' 
"AMERICA'S  ECONOMIC  SUPREMACY,"   ETC. 


THE   MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON:   MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd, 
1902 

All  rights  reserved 


DX3l 
A  33 


Copyright,  1902, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  October,  1902. 


NorirooB  i^resa 

3.  S.  CuBhing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith 

Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


PREFATORY    NOTE 

Last  spring  I  undertook  to  prepare  for  publication 
several  essays  and  addresses  which  I  supposed  were 
connected  together  closely  enough  to  present  a  con- 
secutive chain  of  thought.  On  attempting  an  arrange- 
ment I  found  that  I  was  mistaken,  and  that  to  be 
understood  I  must  recast  the  whole.  When  I  reached 
this  conclusion  it  was  too  late  to  withdraw  from  the 
task,  and  the  consequence  has  been  that  I  have  writ- 
ten the  following  volume  much  faster  than  I  have 
ever  before  done  similar  work.  I  fear  that  the  liter- 
ary form  may  have  suffered,  but  I  apprehend  that,  in 
substance,  the  book  is  comprehensible. 

All  my  observations  lead  me  to  the  conclusion  that 
geographical  conditions  have  exercised  a  great,  possi- 
bly a  preponderating,  influence  over  man's  destiny. 
I  am  convinced  that  neither  history  nor  economics 
can  be  intelligently  studied  without  a  constant  refer- 
ence to  the  geographical  surroundings  which  have 
affected  different  nations.  I  therefore  make  no 
apology  for  having  dwelt  upon  geography,  but  I  wish 
to  say  a  word  concerning  my  maps. 

To  illustrate  my  text  thoroughly  I  should  need  to 
publish  an  atlas.  This  being  impossible,  I  have  con- 
tented myself  with  presenting  a  few  rough  sketches, 
on  a  small  scale,  to  accentuate  the  more  salient 
theories.     Should  any  one  be  enough  interested  in 


IV  PREFATORY  NOTE 

the  subject  to  examine  into  details,  he  will  have  to 
resort  to  special  works.  I  regret  to  say  this  is  not 
easy,  as  the  collections  of  maps  in  American  libraries 
are  surprisingly  defective.  My  greatest  difficulty  has 
lain  here.  In  maps  deahng  with  so  large  an  area 
upon  so  small  a  scale  I  have  not  aimed  at  technical 
accuracy.  The  Mongol  invasions,  for  example,  are 
only  summarily  indicated,  so  as  to  show,  in  a  general 
way,  the  limits  of  the  incursions,  and  the  paths  fol- 
lowed. I  have  even  had  to  abandon  at  times  the 
scale.  My  effort  has  been  to  convey  an  idea.  I 
know  not  if  I  have  succeeded,  for  I  have  had  no 
precedent  to  guide  me.  Maps  ordinarily  represent 
repose,  but  I  have  tried  to  suggest  motion  by  colored 
lines  drawn  from  fixed  bases  to  an  ever-changing  seat 
of  empire.  In  civilization  nothing  is  at  rest,  least  of 
all  the  circulation,  and  the  arteries  through  which  that 
circulation  flows  vary  in  direction  from  generation  to 
generation.  As  they  fluctuate,  so  do  the  boundaries 
of  states. 

I  have  marked  the  southern  routes  in  red,  the 
northern  in  green,  so  that  the  migration  of  trade  may 
be  read  on  each  map  at  a  glance.  Had  the  condi- 
tions of  pubHcation  admitted,  it  would  have  been  easy 
to  show  by  colors  how  one  political  organism  has 
melted  into  another,  as  the  displacement  of  the  centre 
of  international  exchanges  has  caused  a  recentrali- 
zation  of  the  territory  tributary  to  local  markets. 

I  believe  it  to  be  impossible  to  overestimate  the 
effect  upon  civilization  of  the  variations  of  trade- 
routes.  According  to  the  ancient  tradition  the  whole 
valley  of  the  Syr-Daria  was  once  so  thickly  settled 
that  a  nightingale  could  fly  from  branch  to  branch  of 


PREFATORY   NOTE  V 

the  fruit  trees,  and  a  cat  walk  from  wall  to  wall  and 
housetop  to  housetop,  from  Kashgar  to  the  Sea  of 
Aral.  From  the  remains  he  saw,  Schuyler  judged 
the  legend  to  be  true.^  Bagdad  also  was  once  the 
most  splendid  capital  of  the  world.  The  reason  is 
explained  by  the  description  which  Marco  Polo  has 
left  of  the  ships  which,  even  in  his  day,  sailed  from 
the  great  port  of  Hormus,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Persian  Gulf.  "The  vessels  built  at  Hormus  are 
of  the  worst  kind,  and  dangerous  for  navigation, 
exposing  the  merchants  and  others  who  make  use  of 
them  to  great  hazards.  Their  defects  proceed  from 
the  circumstance  of  nails  not  being  employed  in  the 
construction.  .  .  .  The  planks  are  bored  .  .  . 
and  wooden  pins  .  .  .  being  driven  into  them,  they 
are  in  this  manner  fastened  (to  the  stem  and  stern). 
After  this  they  are  bound,  or  rather  sewed  together, 
with  a  kind  of  rope  yarn  stripped  from  the  husk  of 
the  Indian  (cocoa)  nuts.  .  .  .  The  vessel  has  no  more 
than  one  mast,  one  helm,  and  one  deck.  When  she 
has  taken  in  her  lading,  it  is  covered  over  with  hides, 
and  upon  these  hides  they  place  the  horses  which 
they  carry  to  India.  They  have  no  iron  anchors ; 
.  .  .  the  consequence  of  wMch  is,  that  in  bad 
weather,  (and  these  seas  are  very  tempestuous,) 
they  are  frequently  driven  on  shore  and  lost." 

In  such  ships  men  made  short  voyages,  and  freight 
rates  were  correspondingly  high,  with  a  probability  of 
total  loss.  Powerful  vessels,  especially  steamers,  carry 
cheaply,  fast,  and  directly,  consequently  intermediate 
stopping  places  are  abandoned,  and  the  caravan  for 
through  travel  has  ceased  to  pay.     The  main  trade- 

1  Turkestan,  I.,  67. 


Vi  PREFATORY  NOTE 

route  across  Central  Asia  has  thus  been  displaced, 
and  so  it  has  come  to  pass  that  Bagdad  has  sunk  into 
a  mass  of  hovels,  and  the  valley  of  the  Syr-Daria  is  a 
wilderness. 

The  fate  of  the  empire  of  Haroun-al-Raschid  exem- 
plifies an  universal  law. 

BROOKS   ADAMS. 

QuiNCY,  August  27,  1902. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  II.        . .    ' 44 

CaAPTER  III 86 

Chapter  IV "6 

Chapter  V I49 

Chapter  VI i77 

APPENDIX 

Chronological  Table  to  Chapter  1 213 

Chronological  Table  to  Chapter  II 220 

Chronological  Table  to  Chapter  III 223 

Chronological  Table  to  Chapter  IV 226 

Chronological  Table  to  Chapter  V 231 

Chronological  Table  to  Chapter  VI 234 


LIST   OF  MAPS 

FACING    PAGE 

Map  showing  Ajs'cient  Trade-routes i 

(To  illustrate  Chapter  I.) 

Map  showing  Medi.^val  and  Muscovite  Tr.\de-routes       .      44 
(To  illustrate  Chapters  II.  and  III.;  corner  map  to  illustrate 
pages  94,  95.) 

Harz  Region 50 

The  Mongol  Invasions  and  the  Modern  Overland  System     116 
(To  illustrate  Chapter  IV.) 

Chinese  War 189 


INTRODUCTION 

During  the  last  decade  the  world  has  traversed 
one  of  those  periodic  crises  which  attend  an  alteration 
in  the  social  equilibrium.  The  seat  of  energy  has 
migrated  from  Europe  to  America.  The  phenom- 
enon is  not  new,  as  similar  perturbations  have  oc- 
curred from  the  earliest  times ;  its  peculiarity  lies  in 
its  velocity  and  its  proportions.  A  change  of  equi- 
librium has  heretofore  occupied  at  least  the  span  of  a 
human  lifetime,  so  that  a  new  generation  has  gradu- 
ally become  habituated  to  the  novel  environment.  In 
this  instance  the  revolution  came  so  suddenly  that 
few  realized  its  presence  before  it  ended.  Neverthe- 
less, it  has  long  been  in  preparation,  and  it  appears 
to  be  fundamental,  for  it  is  the  effect  of  that  alteration 
in  mental  processes  which  we  call  the  advance  of 
science. 

American  supremacy  has  been  made  possible  only 
through  applied  science.  The  labors  of  successive 
generations  of  scientific  men  have  established  a  con- 
trol over  nature  which  has  enabled  the  United  States  to 
construct  a  new  industrial  mechanism,  with  processes 
surpassingly  perfect.  Nothing  has  ever  equalled  in 
economy  and  energy  the  administration  of  the  great 
American  corporations.  These  are  the  offspring  of 
scientific  thought.  On  the  other  hand,  wherever  sci- 
entific criticism  and  scientific  methods  have  not  pene- 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

trated,  the  old  processes  prevail,  and  these  show  signs 
of  decrepitude.  The  national  government  may  be 
taken  as  an  illustration. 

When  Englishmen  first  settled  upon  this  continent 
they  came  as  pioneers,  and  they  developed  an  extreme 
individuality.  Thinly  scattered  in  widely  separated 
colonies  along  the  coast,  little  independent  commu- 
nities came  into  being  which  had  few  interests  in 
common.  Consolidation  began  late  and  took  an  im- 
perfect form,  the  conditions  then  existing  generating 
a  peculiar  administrative  mechanism.  The  organiza- 
tion reached  after  the  Revolution  was  rather  negative 
than  positive.  The  people  suffered  from  certain  effects 
of  decentralization  which  interfered  with  commercial 
exchanges.  These  they  tried  to  remedy,  but  they 
deprecated  corporate  energy.  They  provided  against 
discriminations  in  trade,  violations  of  contract,  bad 
money,  and  the  like,  and  they  made  provision  for  the 
common  defence,  but  they  manifested  jealousy  of  con- 
solidated power. 

Each  state  feared  interference  in  local  concerns 
more  than  it  craved  aid  in  schemes  which  transcended 
its  borders,  and  accordingly  the  framers  of  the  Con- 
stitution intentionally  made  combined  action  slow  and 
difficult.  They  devised  three  codrdinate  departments, 
each  of  which  could  stop  the  other  two,  and  none  of 
which  could  operate  alone.  And  they  did  this  under 
the  conviction  that  they  had  reached  certain  final 
truths  in  government,  and  in  the  face  of  the  law  that 
friction  bears  a  ratio  to  the  weight  moved. 

Even  with  such  concessions  to  tradition,  no  little 
energy  was  required  to  overcome  the  inertia  of  that 
primitive  society,  for  on  such  societies  tradition  has  a 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

preponderating  influence.  Patrick  Henry  well  repre- 
sented conservative  Virginia,  and  Henry  denounced 
the  Constitution  day  by  day  "  as  the  most  fatal  plan 
which  could  possibly  be  conceived  for  enslaving  a 
free  people."  Henry  could  not  comprehend  the 
change  in  the  conditions  of  life  about  him,  because 
he  had  been  bred  to  beUeve  that  the  institutions  he 
knew  were  intrinsically  good.  He  revered  them 
much  as  he  revered  revealed  religion ;  as  an  end  in 
themselves,  and  not  as  means  to  an  end.  Every 
considerable  political  innovation  must  thus  affect  a 
portion  of  the  population,  for  men  always  live  to 
whom  a  change  in  what  they  have  been  trained  to  re- 
spect is  tantamount  to  sacrilege.  This  temper  of  the 
mind  is  conservatism.  It  resists  change  instinctively 
and  not  intelhgently,  and  it  is  this  conservatism  which 
largely  causes  those  violent  explosions  of  pent-up 
energy  which  we  term  revolutions.  Still,  changes, 
peaceful  or  bloody,  must  come,  and  it  behooves  each 
generation  to  take  care  that  such  as  it  shall  have  to 
deal  with  shall  be  accepted  without  shock.  Intel- 
lectual rigidity  is  the  chief  danger,  for  resistance  to 
the  inevitable  is  proportionate  to  intellectual  rigidity. 
The  Romans  were  rigid,  and  the  massacres  which 
attended  their  readjustments  are  memorable.  The 
slaughter  of  the  Gracchi,  the  proscriptions  of  Marius 
and  Sulla,  and  the  lists  of  the  Triumvirs  are  examples. 
On  the  other  hand,  Caesar  miscarried  because  of  too 
high  intelligence.  He  measured  circumstances  ac- 
curately, and  because  he  did  so,  he  misjudged  others. 
Had  he  comprehended  the  stupidity  of  Brutus,  he 
would  have  killed  him.  With  conservative  popula- 
tions slaughter  is  nature's  remedy.     Augustus  applied 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

it.  He  substantially  exterminated  the  opposition; 
then  the  new  organization  operated. 

Similarly  the  French,  in  emergency,  have  always 
resorted  to  massacre  to  overcome  obstruction,  from 
the  crusades  against  the  Albigenses  in  the  thirteenth 
century  to  the  Commune  of  Paris  in  the  nineteenth. 
It  was  not  only  Saint  Bartholomew,  and  the  persecu- 
tions which  followed  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  which  brought  about  the  Terror  of  1793;  it 
was  rather  a  thousand  nameless  butcheries  like  those 
which  occurred  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  The 
incapacity  of  the  French  to  ameliorate  their  fiscal 
system  generated  an  unequal  taxation  which  pro- 
voked revolt,  and  revolt  caused  repression  frightful 
in  ferocit3^  At  Rennes  in  1675,  as  a  punishment  for 
insubordination,  the  town  was  given  up  to  pillage, 
and  la  Rue  Haute,  the  main  street,  was  destroyed. 
The  inhabitants,  old  men,  women,  and  children,  were 
driven  forth  into  the  fields  "without  a  refuge,  with- 
out food,  and  without  a  place  to  sleep."  They 
perished  from  exposure  and  want. 

Rome  and  France  are  extreme  examples  of  con- 
servatism, but  they  illustrate  the  better  the  working 
of  a  law.  All  administrative  systems  tend  toward 
induration  ;  more  especially  political  systems,  because 
they  are  most  cumbersome.  Conversely,  nature  is  in 
eternal  movement.  Therefore  the  disparity  between 
any  given  government  and  its  environment  is  apt  to 
be  proportionate  to  the  time  which  has  elapsed  since 
the  last  period  of  active  change.  When  a  population 
is  flexible,  adjustment  is  peaceful,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  adoption  of  our  Constitution,  or  the  passage  of 
the  first  English  Reform  Bill ;  when  a  population  is 


INTRODUCTION  XV 

rigid,   a  catastrophe  occurs,  like   the    civil    wars   in 
Rome,  or  the  Terror  of  1793  in  France. 

Measure  the  United  States  by  this  standard.  Since 
the  Constitution  went  into  operation  in  1789  every 
civilized  nation  has  undergone  reorganization,  some, 
like  France  and  Germany,  more  than  once.  And  yet 
nowhere  have  all  the  conditions  of  life  altered  so 
fundamentally  as  in  North  America. 

In  1789  the  United  States  was  a  wilderness  lying 
upon  the  outskirts  of  Christendom  ;  she  is  now  the 
heart  of  civilization  and  the  focus  of  energy.  The 
Union  forms  a  gigantic  and  growing  empire  which 
stretches  half  round  the  globe,  an  empire  possessing 
the  greatest  mass  of  accumulated  wealth,  the  most 
perfect  means  of  transportation,  and  the  most  deli- 
cate yet  powerful  industrial  system  which  has  ever 
been  developed.  By  the  products  of  that  system  she 
must  be  brought  into  competition  with  rivals  at  the 
ends  of  the  earth.  The  nation,  in  its  corporate 
capacity,  has  to  deal  with  problems  domestic  and 
foreign,  more  vast  and  complicated  than  were  ever 
before  presented  for  solution.  In  a  word,  the  condi- 
tions of  the  twentieth  century  are  almost  precisely 
the  reverse  of  those  of  the  eighteenth,  and  yet  the 
national  organization  not  only  remains  unaltered,  but 
is  prevented  from  automatic  adjustment  by  the  pro- 
visions of  a  written  document,  which,  in  practice, 
cannot  be  amended. 

For  the  present  generation  the  manner  in  which 
change  shall  come  is  a  matter  only  of  speculative  in- 
terest, since  before  the  existing  structure  can  crumble, 
those  now  in  middle  life  will  have  passed  away.  To 
the  rising  generation  it  is  of  supreme  moment,  for 


Xvi  INTRODUCTION 

the  forces  at  work  are  gigantic,  and  the  velocity 
extreme. 

Man  cannot  shape  his  own  environment,  but  he 
alone  of  all  animals  can  consciously  adapt  himself  to 
the  demands  of  nature.  He  does  so  by  education. 
This  faculty  is  an  incalculable  advantage  in  the 
struggle  for  existence,  for  by  education  the  young 
can  be  trained  to  dexterity  in  almost  any  manual  or 
mental  process.  Intellectual  flexibihty  may  be  de- 
veloped as  readily  as  intellectual  rigidity.  Science 
has  won  her  triumphs  through  such  training.  The 
scientific  schools  perform  their  functions  well.  Their 
discipline  creates  an  open  mind ;  scientific  methods 
of  thought  are  now  paramount  in  our  industries,  and 
it  is  to  this  faculty  that  America,  in  a  very  large 
measure,  owes  her  industrial  success. 

It  is  an  axiom  that  the  manufacturer  who  is  least 
bound  by  tradition  is  the  man  who,  other  things  being 
equal,  will  succeed.  He  who  can  cast  aside  the  prepos- 
sessions of  a  lifetime,  abandon  his  old  equipment,  and 
adopt  what  is  newest,  is  held  to  be  enlightened.  The 
doctrine  is  reduced  to  a  rule  of  conduct.  The  rail- 
way manager  reckons  that  his  locomotives  are  capa- 
ble of  a  given  amount  of  work.  He  extracts  that 
work  as  fast  as  possible,  because  he  can  replace  an 
old  machine  by  a  better.  The  British  manager  acts 
on  the  opposite  principle.  He  rests  his  engines,  re- 
pairs them,  cares  for  them,  and  boasts  that  he  can 
exhibit  some  relic  of  the  time  of  Stephenson. 

Penetrate  the  recesses  of  British  society,  and  one 
chief  cause  of  this  conservatism  is  disclosed.  The 
nation  is  intellectually  inelastic,  and  it  cultivates 
rigidity  by  confiding  its  education  to  the  clergy,  who 


INTRODUCTION  xvil 

are  preeminently  a  rigid  class.  The  result  is  that 
Englishmen  fall  behind.  They  own,  for  example,  the 
South  African  gold  mines,  but  they  do  not  work  them. 

In  England  the  old  processes  of  so-called  liberal 
thought  still  prevail.  In  America  these  have  been 
superseded  in  science,  and  in  those  walks  of  life 
which  are  regulated  by  scientific  methods.  They 
still  survive  in  colleges,  as  distinguished  from  techni- 
cal schools,  and  colleges  very  largely  shape  opinion 
in  the  United  States,  not  only  on  political,  but  on  a 
great  variety  of  other  subjects.  No  better  illustration 
of  this  tendency  can  be  chosen  than  the  attitude 
maintained  toward  history. 

History  presents  a  double  aspect :  First,  the  com- 
mercial and  literary ;  second,  the  educational  and 
scientific.  The  man  who  writes  a  history  either  as  a 
social  or  political  speculation,  or  else  for  sale,  differs 
from  no  other  adventurer.  He  writes  for  a  market, 
as  another  man  manufactures  for  a  market,  and  most 
of  the  best  historical  work  has  been  done  under  these 
conditions.  Thucydides,  Tacitus,  Caesar,  Gibbon, 
and  Macaulay  produced  their  books  for  private  ends 
or  else  for  sale,  and  in  either  case  the  result  was  the 
same.  No  one  bought  who  did  not  care  to  read,  and 
no  one  read  without  the  inclination.  It  was  a  trade 
in  luxuries  like  the  trade  in  spices. 

Modern  educational  and  scientific  history  stands  on 
a  different  basis.  It  is  assumed  that  there  are  facts 
in  the  past  which  it  imports  all  the  world  to  know,  and 
much  money  and  time  are  spent  in  unearthing  them. 
For  many  years  governments,  corporations,  and  in- 
dividuals have  vied  with  each  other  in  publishing 
archives  and  editing  documents,  while  monographs 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

on  all  sorts  of  special  subjects  abound ;  but  no  at- 
tempt has  been  made  to  digest  what  has  been  gathered. 
Meanwhile  the  mass  of  material  is  accumulating 
rapidly.  Libraries  are  no  longer  able  to  buy  and 
catalogue  the  volumes  which  appear,  and  he  who 
would  read  intelligently  must  first  learn  to  eliminate. 
Apparently  it  is  assumed  that  the  accumulation  of 
facts  for  the  facts'  sake  is  an  adequate  end,  and 
yet  nothing  serves  so  little  purpose  as  undigested 
facts.  A  fact  in  itself  has  no  significance ;  neither 
have  a  thousand  facts.  What  gives  facts  their  value 
is  their  relation  to  each  other ;  for  when  enough  have 
been  collected  to  suggest  a  sequence  of  cause  and 
effect,  a  generalization  can  be  made  which  scientific 
men  call  a  "law."  The  law  amounts  only  to  this, 
that  certain  phenomena  have  been  found  to  succeed 
each  other  with  sufficient  regularity  to  enable  us  to 
count  with  reasonable  certainty  on  their  recurrence 
in  a  determined  order. 

Science  is  constructed  from  such  approximations. 
History  as  taught  in  our  colleges  ignores  the  ad- 
vantage of  generalization,  and  discourages  all  at- 
tempts to  generalize.  Yet  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
advantage  accrues  to  any  one  from  the  mere  accu- 
mulation of  historical  details.  Unless  reduced  to 
order,  so  as  to  offer  a  basis  of  comparison,  past  facts 
bear  little  upon  present  events.  The  change  of 
conditions  impairs  their  relevancy.  Certainly  it  is 
fatuous  to  burden  the  memory  with  them,  for  a 
gazetteer  is  fuller  and  more  accurate  than  any  human 
memory,  and  is  always  at  hand. 

To  such  reasoning  the  teaching  profession  objects 
that  their  specialty  differs  from  all  others  in  that  it 


INTRODUCTION  jdx 

deals  with  human  actions.  These  actions  either  are 
not  regulated  by  the  same  laws  which  pervade  the 
rest  of  nature,  or,  if  they  are,  the  causes  of  which 
they  are  effects  are  so  complicated  as  to  elude  us, 
unless  we  gather  a  very  much  larger  number  of 
observations  from  which  to  generahze  than  we  now 
possess,  or  are  likely  to  possess  in  the  immediate 
future.  A  dilemma  is  thus  presented.  Either  human 
experience  cannot  be  formulated ;  or,  at  best,  it  can 
be  only  by  amassing  more  facts  than  the  mind  can 
grasp.  In  either  case  the  same  conclusion  is  reached. 
Generalization  must  be  abandoned,  and  the  collection 
of  "  historical  material"  must  be  accepted  as  the  end 
for  which  so  much  money  and  time  are  spent.  If  this 
be  true,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  sums  expended  on 
historical  research  and  on  professional  salaries  might 
not  be  made  to  yield  a  better  return. 

Possibly,  however,  professional  historians  are  mis- 
taken in  their  estimate  of  the  difficulty  of  historical 
generalization  ;  possibly,  also,  the  reasons  they  allege 
against  making  the  attempt  are  not  those  which 
influence  them  most.  Still,  as  these  reasons  are 
seriously  advanced,  they  must  be  seriously  examined. 

On  their  face  the  objections  proposed  seem  incon- 
clusive, for  they  rest  on  fallacious  premises.  They 
assume,  in  the  first  place,  that  human  actions  are  the 
effects  of  peculiarly  complicated  causes ;  and  in  the 
second,  that  an  imperfect  generalization  is  valueless. 
Both  assumptions  are  incorrect.  The  causes  which 
have  combined  to  cast  a  single  grain  of  sand  upon 
the  shore  are  infinite,  and  the  infinite  can  neither  be 
surpassed  nor  understood.  We  cannot  understand 
what  the  sand  is  or  how  it  comes  to  be  where  it  lies, 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

and  yet  we  can  make  geology  useful.  Also  it  is  a 
maxim  of  science  that  results  are  obtained  by  approxi- 
mation through  error,  and  that  the  truths  of  one  gen- 
eration are  the  errors  of  the  next. 

The  scientific  man  accepts  his  limitations  and  does 
not  expect  to  arrive  at  absolute  verity.  He  observes, 
and  when  he  has  advanced  far  enough  to  begin  to 
generalize,  he  formulates  his  ideas  as  an  hypothesis 
to  serve  as  a  basis  on  which  to  work  until  some  one 
has  suggested  something  better.  There  is  hardly  a 
general  scientific  proposition  which  is  not  called  in 
question,  and  it  is  precisely  by  such  questioning  that 
knowledge  is  reduced  to  a  serviceable  shape. 

For  example,  one  of  the  most  cherished  postulates 
of  science  has  been  that  "a  thing  cannot  act  where  it 
is  not,"  a  postulate  which  Newton  himself  agreed  to ; 
and  yet  that  postulate  is  directly  contradicted  by 
gravity.  Nobody  can  guess  what  gravity  is,  or  how 
it  operates,  and  yet  laws  can  be  formulated  which 
enable  us  to  use  it  for  multifarious  purposes. 

The  atomic  theory  was  at  one  time  generally 
adopted,  and  now  chemists  are  discussing  whether  it 
is  not  more  of  a  hindrance  than  a  help.  The  famous 
nebular  hypothesis  of  Kant  and  La  Place  played  a 
great  part  in  astronomy,  but  it  is  conceded  that  there 
are  fatal  objections  to  receiving  it  as  a  solution  of 
the  secret  of  the  formation  of  stars.  The  work  of  the 
astronomer  is  based  on  fictions.  "  In  calculating  the 
attraction  of  a  homogeneous  sphere  upon  a  material 
point  .  .  .  the  astronomer  begins  with  two  fictions 
—  the  fiction  of  a  'material  point'  (which  is,  in  truth, 
a  contradiction  in  terms),  .  .  .  and  the  fiction  of  the 
finite  differences  representing  the  molecular  constitu- 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

tion  of  the  sphere."  ^  The  theory  of  the  conservation 
of  energy  is  expected  to  "  prove  the  great  theoretical 
solvent  of  chemical  as  well  as  physical  phenomena," 
and  yet  in  regard  to  the  planetary  system  Lord 
Kelvin  has  formulated  his  conclusions  thus :  — 

*'  I.  There  is  at  present  in  the  material  world  a 
universal  tendency  to  the  dissipation  of  mechanical 
energy. 

"  2.  Any  restoration  of  mechanical  energy,  without 
more  than  an  equivalent  of  dissipation,  is  impossible 
in  inanimate  material  processes,  and  is  probably  never 
effected  by  material  masses  either  endowed  with 
vegetable  life,  or  subjected  to  the  will  of  an  animated 
creature. 

"  3.  Within  a  finite  time  past  the  earth  must  have 
been,  and  within  a  finite  period  of  time  to  come  the 
earth  must  again  be,  unfit  for  the  habitation  of  man 
as  at  present  constituted,  unless  operations  have  been, 
or  are  to  be,  performed  which  are  impossible  under 
the  laws  to  which  the  known  operations  going  on  at 
present  in  the  material  world  are  subject." 

The  axioms  of  mathematics  are  disputed.  A  school 
of  geometers  now  conceive  of  space  as  curved,  so  that 
lines  which  we  have  regarded  as  straight  may  prove 
to  be  a  closed  curve,  and  parallel  lines  meet.  "A 
whole  pencil  of  shortest  lines  may  [thus]  be  drawn 
through  the  same  point."  Moreover,  mathematicians 
regard  space  as  having  various  dimensions,  so  that 
the  solar  system  in  its  march  through  the  universe 
may  be  approaching  regions  where  there  will  be  four 
dimensions.^ 

^  The  Concepts  and  Theories  of  Modern  Physics,  Stallo,  297, 
2  See  On  Some  Recent  Advances  in  Physical  Science,  P.  G.  Tait. 


xxii  INTRODUCTION 

The  list  might  be  prolonged,  but  to  little  purpose, 
as  the  principle  is  undisputed.  All  scientific  men 
agree  to  the  tentative  condition  of  generalizations, 
and  yet  science  advances,  the  proof  being  the  control 
obtained  over  natural  forces.  If  satisfactory  results 
can  be  reached  elsewhere  by  using  well-established 
methods  of  observation  and  generalization,  there 
seems  no  reason,  at  first  sight,  why  the  same  methods 
should  not  be  applied  to  humanity,  especially  as  Dar- 
win drew  his  inferences  regarding  evolution  by  these 
processes.  On  considering  more  attentively,  how- 
ever, the  possibilities  which  are  disclosed  by  such 
investigations,  the  hesitation  of  the  universities  ap- 
pears less  inexplicable.  Certainly  no  fundamental 
religious  dogmas  are  threatened,  since  neither  the 
attributes  of  the  soul  nor  of  the  mind  are  in  question  ; 
but  if  communities  of  men  are  to  be  studied  as  though 
they  were  communities  of  ants,  learned  bodies  might 
be  forced  into  positions  which  would  make  untenable 
their  present  tacitly  accepted  platform  of  principles. 

Submission  to  tradition  is  one  of  the  strong  in- 
stincts. In  primitive  ages  it  is  absolute;  life  is 
regulated  by  ritual.  The  code  of  Leviticus  instructs 
men  how  to  eat,  and  wash,  and  shave,  and  reap,  and 
the  law  was  changeless,  to  be  kept  by  "  thy  son  and 
thy  son's  son  all  the  days  of  thy  life." 

A  religious  truth,  of  course,  cannot  vary,  for  truth 
is  immutable  and  eternal,  and  no  believer  in  an  in- 
spired church  could  tolerate  having  her  canons  ex- 
amined as  we  should  examine  human  laws.  But  it  is 
not  only  in  religion  that  tradition  wields  power.  It 
is  often  preponderant  in  politics,  and  a  political  prin- 
ciple is  not  seldom  preached  as  a  tenet  of  faith.     Not 


INTRODUCTION  Xxiii 

SO  very  long  ago  the  Anglican  clergy  maintained  as 
orthodox  doctrine  the  divine  right  of  kings,  and,  to 
come  nearer  home,  the  language  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  varies  little  from  that  of  a  Cathohc 
council.  The  Declaration  lays  down  an  immutable 
law,  "We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-e\ddent."  The 
Church  enunciates  a  verity  in  slightly  different  terms, 
but  no  more  dogmatically,  "  This  holy  Synod  doth 
now  declare."  Even  in  science  tradition  has  not  been 
altogether  eradicated.  Some  years  ago,  on  retiring 
from  the  presidency  of  the  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  Professor  Langley  took 
the  occasion  to  remonstrate  against  this  tendency. 

"The  final  conclusion  was  irresistible,  that  the 
universal  statement  of  this  alleged  well-known  fact, 
inexplicable  as  this  might  seem,  in  so  simple  a  matter, 
was  directly  contradicted  by  experiment.  I  had  some 
natural  curiosity  to  find  how  every  one  knew  this  to 
be  a  fact ;  but  search  only  showed  the  same  state- 
ment (that  the  earth's  atmosphere  absorbed  dark  heat 
like  glass)  repeated  everywhere,  with  absolutely  no- 
where any  observation  or  evidence  whatever  to  prove 
it,  but  each  writer  quoting  from  an  earlier  one,  till 
I  was  almost  ready  to  believe  it  a  dogma  superior  to 
reason,  and  resting  on  the  well-known  '  Quod  semper, 
quod  tibique,  quod  ab  omnibus,  creditiim  est.'  "  ^ 

Professor  Langley  went  on  to  say  :  "  The  question 
of  fact  here,  though  important,  is,  I  think,  quite  sec- 
ondary to  the  query  it  raises  as  to  the  possible  unsus- 
pected influence  of  mere  tradition  in  science,  when 
we  do  not  recognize  it  as  such.  Now,  members  of 
any  church  are  doubtless  consistent  in  believing  in 

^  TAe  History  of  a  Doctrine,  S.  P.  Langley,  20. 


xxiv  INTRODUCTION 

traditions,  if  they  believe  that  these  are  presented 
to  them  by  an  infallible  guide;  but  are  we,  who  have 
no  infallible  guide,  quite  safe  in  believing  all  we  do, 
from  our  fond  persuasion  that  in  the  scientific  body 
mere  tradition  has  no  weight?  " 

Here  lies  the  divergence  between  the  scientific  and 
the  liberal  training.  Professor  Langley  insists  that 
nothing  must  be  taken  as  fixed,  and  that  the  mind 
should  be  held  open  to  proceed  to  successive  general- 
izations as  the  range  of  observation  expands.  The 
College  proceeds  on  nearly  an  opposite  principle. 

The  College  assumes  certain  ethical  premises,  and 
the  conclusions  of  study  must  be  made  to  square  with 
these.  This  is  as  it  should  be  from  the  inductive 
standpoint,  for  the  College  is  the  offspring  of  the 
Church  and  the  daughter  of  the  mediaeval  convent. 
Nevertheless  such  an  assumption  places  liberal  in 
antagonism  to  scientific  methods,  and  especially  be- 
tween inductive  and  ethical  history  the  gulf  cannot 
be  bridged. 

If  men  are  to  be  observed  scientifically,  the  standard 
by  which  customs  and  institutions  must  be  gauged  can- 
not be  abstract  moral  principles,  but  success.  Those 
instincts  are  judged  advantageous  to  animals  which 
help  them  in  their  struggle  for  life,  and  those  preju- 
dicial which  hamper  them.  They  are  means  to  an 
end.  So  with  physical  peculiarities.  A  beast's  color 
is  good  if  it  serves  to  protect ;  and  bad  if  it  make  him 
conspicuous  to  his  enemy.  Similarly  with  men.  In- 
stitutions are  good  which  lead  to  success  in  competi- 
tion, and  are  bad  when  they  hinder.  No  series  of 
institutions  are  a  priori  to  be  preferred  to  others ; 
the  criterion  is  the  practical  one  of  success. 


ESfTRODUCTION  XXV 

The  same  rule  applies  to  men  themselves.  They 
are  the  best  who  conform  most  perfectly  to  the 
demands  of  nature,  or  who,  in  other  words,  succeed 
best.  Nature  eliminates  those  who  do  not  satisfy 
her  requirements,  and  from  Nature's  decree  there  is 
no  appeal. 

These  generalizations  can  with  difficulty  be  recon- 
ciled with  any  body  of  fixed  ethical  principles.  Evi- 
dently they  form  a  doctrine  of  expediency  founded 
on  necessity.  The  theory  is  that  men  will  arrive  at 
precisely  the  same  end,  in  either  case ;  only  by  flexi- 
bility will  they  avoid  suffering.  In  fact,  nothing  is 
more  sensitive  to  the  exigencies  of  an  environment 
than  a  moral  law.  According  to  conditions  of  time 
and  place  murder,  cruelty,  piracy,  slaving,  polygamy, 
ceHbacy,  deceit,  and  their  like,  have  been  exalted  into 
virtues ;  while  it  is  not  so  very  long  since  the  Church 
declared  the  healing  of  the  sick  by  scientific  means 
and  the  taking  of  interest  for  money  to  be  crimes 
before  God.  As  the  environment  changes,  those  men 
are  gradually  selected  who  conform  thereto ;  the  rest 
perish  more  or  less  miserably.  The  scientific  educa- 
tion w^ould  tend  to  diminish  the  agony  of  adaptation. 

Followed  to  their  root,  also,  the  two  systems  of 
thought  will  be  found  to  be  as  opposed  in  their  prac- 
tical methods  as  they  are  in  regard  to  the  temper  of 
mind  which  they  propagate.  The  one  is  analytical 
and  administrative,  the  other  idealistic  and  slack.  A 
few  examples  will  explain  the  difference  between 
them. 

Large  public  libraries  are  now  admittedly  in  an 
unsatisfactory  condition.  Libraries  may  indeed  spec- 
ulate in  curiosities,  or  be  used  for  amusement,  but 


XXvi  INTRODUCTION 

here  they  are  considered  only  as  educational  institu- 
tions or  workshops.  Viewed  thus,  none  are  complete, 
for  the  books  printed  outrun  the  means  of  buying, 
cataloguing,  and  housing.  Administration  has  broken 
down  ;  and  administration  has  broken  down  because 
it  is  unscientific.  Men  of  liberal  education  have  col- 
lected libraries  who  have  never  been  taught  to  gener- 
alize. These  men  look  on  a  book  as  a  unit,  precisely 
as  in  history  they  look  on  a  fact  as  a  unit.  When  a 
book  is  supposed  to  have  a  certain  degree  of  merit, 
it  is  deemed  worthy  of  purchase,  almost  regardless 
of  its  subject.  Thus  the  whole  range  of  knowledge  is 
thrown  open,  and  the  result  is  bewilderment. 

On  no  principle  of  generalization  can  the  book, 
apart  from  ordinary  books  of  reference,  be  considered 
as  the  unit.  The  subject  is  the  unit,  and  the  book 
has  a  value  only  in  relation  to  its  subject.  A  single 
book,  like  a  single  chapter,  word,  or  fact,  needs  a 
context  to  explain  it ;  therefore  a  library  collected  on 
the  basis  of  individual  books  must  be  incomplete,  and 
an  indifferent  workshop,  because  no  man  can  thor- 
oughly finish  any  task  therein.  To  find  all  his  tools 
he  must  travel  elsewhere,  and  everywhere  he  is  met 
with  the  same  difficulty,  because  all  general  libraries 
are  collected  on  much  the  same  system,  and  all  dupli- 
cate each  other. 

Supposing,  however,  that  liberal  education  like 
science  were  based  on  a  series  of  generalizations,  a 
different  result  would  be  attained.  The  book  would 
not  then  be  regarded  as  the  unit,  nor  of  value  as  a 
thing  in  itself,  but  only  of  value  in  so  far  as  it  related 
to  the  contents  of  the  collection  to  which  it  might  be 
added.     The  department  of  knowledge  would  thus 


INTRODUCTION  xxvii 

become  the  unit ;  and  in  growing  the  library  would 
grow  not  by  volumes  but  by  departments.  The  next 
generalization  would  be  uniting  several  libraries, 
covering  many  departments,  under  one  management, 
so  that  their  books  might  be  mutually  accessible 
and  few  duplicated.  This  generalization  might  be 
broadened  indefinitely  so  as,  at  last,  by  an  exchange 
of  books  of  many  libraries,  to  make  an  almost  perfect 
collection  in  all  important  departments,  and  that  at  the 
lowest  cost. 

Precisely  the  same  phenomena  are  disclosed  in 
museums  devoted  to  the  fine  arts.  Like  libraries, 
museums  may  speculate  in  bric-a-brac,  but  the  true 
function  of  an  art  museum  is  conceded  to  be  educa- 
tion. The  theory  on  which  they  have  been  formed 
has  been  a  liberal  a  priori  XS\^oxy .  It  has  been  taught 
that  certain  objects  are  in  themselves  beautiful,  because 
they  conform  to  a  conventional  aesthetic  standard,  and 
that  such  objects  should  be  purchased  for  their  own 
intrinsic  merit,  apart  from  the  contents  of  the  museum. 
Such  a  theory  conflicts  with  the  inductive  method. 

If  art  be  viewed  as  a  product  of  an  environment, 
art  is,  like  language,  a  form  of  expression ;  therefore 
a  heterogeneous  mass  of  pictures,  laces,  statues,  porce- 
lain, and  coins  has  no  more  significance  than  would 
have  stray  lines  taken  at  random  from  the  poets  of  a 
thousand  languages  and  printed  side  by  side.  The 
carvings  and  glass  of  the  cathedral  of  Chartres  spoke 
as  clearly  and  more  emphatically  to  the  mediaeval 
peasant  than  any  book  can  speak  to  us,  and  we  can- 
not appreciate  that  masterpiece  unless  we  compre- 
hend the  language  in  which  the  Church  of  the  twelfth 
century  addressed  the  people.     To  the  Greek  like- 


XXviii  INTRODUCTION 

wise  the  coin  had  a  meaning.  We  cannot  exhibit  a 
few  Greek  coins  as  a  model  of  what  coinage  should 
be,  for  those  coins  would  be  unserviceable  now. 
They  convey  no  lesson  unless  they  be  read  in  the 
light  of  Greek  economic  civilization. 

Our  architecture,  when  dealing  with  iron  and  steel, 
with  matter  of  fact  factories,  railway  stations,  and 
warehouses,  is  admirable.  When  it  strives  after  an 
aesthetic  ideal,  it  is  a  failure ;  and,  logically,  it  could 
be  nothing  but  a  failure,  because  it  is  unintelHgent. 

A  body  of  material  produced  during  certain  epochs 
is  arbitrarily  selected  as  worthy,  and  from  this  mate- 
rial architects  are  thought  to  be  justified  in  borrow- 
ing whatever  may  suit  their  purpose,  or  strike  their 
fancy,  irrespective  of  the  language  which  their  pred- 
ecessors spoke,  or  the  ideas  which  they  conveyed. 
The  arms  of  a  pope  may  be  used  to  adorn  the  front 
of  a  New  England  library,  or  the  tomb  of  the  Virgin 
for  a  booth  at  an  international  commercial  exhibition. 

If  men  would  translate  or  adapt  a  poem,  they  must 
first  soak  themselves  in  the  language  and  the  temper 
of  the  poet,  and  artists  who  would  borrow  with  effect 
must  first  be  archaeologists  and  students  of  history. 
Approached  thus,  the  heterogeneous  collection  of 
aesthetic  objects  can  only  be  a  stumbling-block.  The 
value  of  the  museum  must  be  proportionate  to  the 
perfection  with  which  it  displays  the  development  of 
the  artistic  side  of  any  civilization,  and  the  intelli- 
gence with  which  it  offers  the  key  to  the  form  of  ex- 
pression which  it  undertakes  to  explain.  This  is 
generalization. 

The  same  defective  administration  arising  from 
imperfect  generalization  appears  in  the  University. 


INTRODUCriON  xxix 

Until  within  about  a  generation  the  American  College 
retained  substantially  the  methods  and  the  curriculum 
which  had  been  in  use  when  it  served  as  a  di\'inity 
school.  About  1870  an  expansion  took  place,  based 
on  the  theory  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  fact,  pre- 
cisely as  the  expansion  of  the  library  has  been  based 
on  the  theory  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  book.  The 
aim  of  the  new  University  came  to  be  to  teach  ever}-- 
thing,  little  attention  being  given  to  the  coordination 
of  the  parts.  The  result  could  not  be  other  than 
wasteful  and  disjointed.  Suppose  two  foundations 
each  teach  one  hundred  subjects,  those  subjects  being 
substantially  identical ;  they  ob\'iously  duphcate  each 
other,  while  they  divide  their  resources  by  one  hun- 
dred. Suppose  each,  on  the  contrary,  to  teach  but 
fifty  subjects,  the  original  hundred  being  distributed 
between  them,  they  double  their  teaching  power, 
and  still  offer  to  the  public  precisely  the  same 
field  as  before.  They  suppress  waste  and  increase 
efficiency. 

The  theory  on  which  the  modern  University  system 
rests  is  fallacious.  The  worth  of  the  University  Hes 
not  in  the  multitude  of  units  taught,  but  in  the  coor- 
dination of  parts  and  the  intensity  of  effort.  What 
our  ci\dlization  demands  is  the  maximum  of  energy, 
and  that  maximum  cannot  be  attained  when  the  money 
which  would  bring  one  department  to  the  standard  is 
divided  between  two.  American  universities  would 
have  now  abundant  funds  for  all  necessary  work  of 
the  highest  grade  were  there  no  waste.  They  are 
poor  because  of  bad  administration. 

It  is  true  that  the  worst  examples  of  duphcate 
foundations  are  effects  of  the  clerical  a  priori  rea- 


XXX  INTRODUCTION 

soning,  yet,  when  all  allowances  have  been  made  for 
sectarian  narrowness,  the  fact  remains  that  colleges 
do  not  attempt  to  add  to  their  efficiency  and  stop 
their  waste  by  intelligent  cooperation  among  them- 
selves, as  manufacturers  would  cooperate  who  did 
not  mean  to  be  ruined.  They  do  not  even  go  so  far 
as  to  coordinate  their  instruction  by  departments  and 
by  sub-departments,  so  that  every  student  who  receives 
tuition  shall  receive  it  with  that  degree  of  intelligence 
which  comes  from  knowing  where  he  stands  in  regard 
to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge.  And  yet  such  a 
generaUzation,  at  least  in  regard  to  departments,  would 
be  easy.  Every  science  is  so  generalized  that  each  spe- 
cialist can  know  at  any  moment  how  his  part  stands 
to  the  whole.  If  he  need  to  broaden  his  sphere  of 
knowledge  by  examining  other  branches,  he  can 
choose  those  most  advantageous  with  celerity  and 
certainty.  The  student  at  college  is  launched  upon 
an  unknown  sea,  like  a  mariner  without  chart  or 
compass.  He  has  little  to  guide  him  in  ascertain- 
ing what  departments  are  really  kindred.  Even  the 
courses  of  history  are  often  arranged  according  to 
the  taste  of  professors,  and  with  no  relation  to  his- 
torical sequence. 

Take  economics  as  an  example.  During  the 
eighteenth  century  Adam  Smith,  having  carefully 
observed  the  conditions  which  prevailed  in  Europe 
and  especially  in  Great  Britain,  wrote  a  book  ad- 
mirably suited  to  his  environment,  and  the  book  met 
with  success.  Then  men  undertook  to  erect  the 
principles  of  that  book  into  an  universal  law,  irre- 
spective of  environment.  Then  others  theorized  on 
these  commentators,  and  their  successors  upon  them, 


INTRODUCTION  xxxi 

until  the  most  practical  of  business  problems  has  been 
lost  in  a  metaphysical  fog. 

Now  men  are  apt  to  lecture  on  political  economy 
as  if  it  were  a  dogma,  much  as  the  nominalists  and 
realists  lectured  in  mediaeval  schools.  But  a  priori 
theories  can  avail  little  in  matters  which  are  deter- 
mined by  experiment. 

Political  economy  as  a  dogma  is  as  absurd  as  would 
be  a  dogma  which  taught  an  infallible  way  to  manipu- 
late the  stock  market.  Success  in  competition  comes 
solely  through  a  comprehension  of  existing  conditions 
and  the  capacity  to  take  advantage  of  opportunities. 
One  community,  such  as  Rome,  may  do  well  by  rob- 
bery; another,  like  Great  Britain,  when  she  enjoyed  a 
monopoly  of  minerals  and  of  manufactures,  may  flour- 
ish upon  free  trade ;  a  third,  like  Germany  with  her 
sugar  policy,  may  find  her  advantage  in  attacking  a 
rival  by  export  bounties  ;  while  a  fourth  may  thrive 
by  seclusion,  as  did  Japan,  as  long  as  circumstances 
favored.  No  one  can  say  a  priori  what  will  succeed  ; 
the  criterion  is  success. 

The  inference  is  that  if  a  man  would  study  eco- 
nomics to  some  purpose,  he  must  study  them  practi- 
cally, as  he  would  any  other  business.  He  must 
begin  by  learning  the  principles  of  trade  and  finance 
as  they  are  presented  by  actual  daily  experience,  just 
as  the  soldier,  the  sailor,  the  lawyer,  and  the  doctor 
learn  their  professions.  Then  if  he  wish  to  gener- 
alize, he  can  examine  into  the  experience  of  other 
countries,  past  and  present,  and  observe  how  they 
won  or  lost.  In  other  words,  he  can  read  geog- 
raphy, history,  archaeology,  numismatics,  and  kindred 
branches,  and  extend   his   horizon   at  his   pleasure. 


Xxxii  INTRODUCTION 

Thus  men  work  who  expect  to  earn  their  bread  in  the 
walks  of  active  Hfe,  but  colleges  do  not  classify. 

History,  geography,  and  economics  are  related 
branches  which  mutually  explain  each  other,  and 
none  of  which  can  be  well  understood  alone.  They 
also  aid  each  other,  for  the  sequence  of  cause  and 
effect  sustains  the  memory ;  and  yet  they  are  never 
taught  together,  although  to  learn  the  three  combined 
would  take  little  longer,  and  demand  less  effort,  than 
to  learn  any  one  singly.  It  is  a  curious  commentary 
on  liberal  methods,  that  geography,  which  is  emi- 
nently practical,  is  only  applied  in  military  or  possibly 
technical  schools.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  thorough 
collection  of  maps  made  on  scientific  principles  in 
any  public  library  in  the  United  States. 

Lastly,  it  remains  to  consider  how  the  introduction 
of  inductive  methods  in  social  matters  would  affect 
the  community  at  large  by  the  destruction  of  its 
ideals ;  for  ideals  would  probably  suffer. 

He  who  is  dominated  by  tradition  exalts  the  past. 
In  the  concrete  case  of  an  American  he  believes  more 
or  less  implicitly  that  the  contemporaries  of  Washing- 
ton and  Jefferson  arrived  at  political  truths  which,  at 
least  so  far  as  he  is  concerned,  may  be  received  as 
final.  The  man  who  reasons  by  induction  views  the 
work  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  otherwise.  He 
views  it  as  the  product  of  the  conditions  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  as  having  no  more  necessary 
relation  to  the  conduct  of  affairs  in  the  twentieth, 
than  Franklin's  methods  in  electricity  would  have  to 
the  manipulation  of  a  modern  dynamo.  The  United 
States  now  occupies  a  position  of  extraordinary 
strength.     Favored  alike  by  geographical  position,  by 


INTRODUCTION  XXxiii 

deposits  of  minerals,  by  climate,  and  by  the  character 
of  her  population,  she  has  little  to  fear,  either  in  peace 
or  war,  from  rivals,  provided  the  friction  created  by 
the  movement  of  the  masses  with  which  she  has  to 
deal  does  not  neutralize  her  energy. 

Masses  accumulate  in  the  United  States  because 
administration  by  masses  is  cheaper  than  administra- 
tion by  detail.  Masses  take  the  form  of  corporations, 
and  the  men  who  rise  to  the  control  of  these  corpora- 
tions rise  because  they  are  fittest.  The  process  is 
natural  selection.  The  hfe  of  the  community  lies 
in  these  masses.  Derange  them,  and  there  would  im- 
mediately follow  an  equivalent  loss  of  energy.  They 
are  there  because  the  conditions  of  our  civilization  are 
such  as  to  make  it  cheaper  that  they  should  be  there, 
and  if  our  political  institutions  are  ill-adapted  to  their 
propagation  and  development,  then  political  institu- 
tions must  be  readjusted,  or  the  probability  is  that  the 
whole  fabric  of  society  will  be  shattered  by  the  dislo- 
cation of  the  economic  system.  America  holds  its 
tenure  of  prosperity  only  on  condition  that  she  can 
undersell  her  rivals,  and  she  cannot  do  so  if  her 
administrative  machinery  generates  friction  unduly. 

Political  institutions  and  political  principles  are  but 
a  conventional  dial  on  whose  face  the  hands  revolve 
which  mark  the  movement  of  the  mechanism  within. 
Most  governments  and  many  codes  have  been  adored 
as  emanating  from  the  deity.  All  were  ephemeral, 
and  all  which  survived  their  purpose  became  a  jest 
or  a  curse  to  the  children  of  the  worshippers ;  things 
to  be  cast  aside  like  worn-out  garments. 

Under  any  circumstances  an  organism  so  gigantic 
as  the  American  Union  must  generate  friction.     In 


XXxIv  INTRODUCTION 

American  industry  friction  will  infallibly  exist  be- 
tween capital  and  labor ;  but  that  necessary  friction 
may  be  indefinitely  increased  by  conservatism.  His- 
tory teems  with  examples  of  civilizations  which  have 
been  destroyed  through  an  unreasoning  inertia  like 
that  of  Brutus,  or  the  French  privileged  classes,  or 
Patrick  Henry.  A  slight  increase  in  the  relative  cost 
of  production  caused  by  an  imperfect  mechanical  ad- 
justment is  usually  sufficient  to  give  some  rival  an 
advantage,  and  when  a  country  is  undersold,  misery 
sets  in.  People  who  cannot  earn  their  daily  bread 
are  revolutionary,  and  disorders  bred  by  violence 
achieve  the  series  of  disasters  which  began  with  the 
diversion  of  trade.  Such  was  the  fate  of  the  great 
cities  of  Flanders,  of  Bruges,  of  Ghent,  and  of  Ypres. 

The  alternative  presented  is  plain.  Men  may 
cherish  ideals  and  risk  substantial  benefits  to  realize 
them.  Such  is  the  emotional  instinct.  Or  they  may 
regard  their  government  dispassionately,  as  they 
would  any  other  matter  of  business. 

Americans  in  former  generations  led  a  simple 
agricultural  life.  Possibly  such  a  life  was  happier 
than  ours.  Very  probably  keen  competition  is  not  a 
blessing.  We  cannot  alter  our  environment.  Nature 
has  cast  the  United  States  into  the  vortex  of  the 
fiercest  struggle  which  the  world  has  ever  known. 
She  has  become  the  heart  of  the  economic  system  of 
the  age,  and  she  must  maintain  her  supremacy  by 
wit  and  by  force,  or  share  the  fate  of  the  discarded. 
What  that  fate  is  the  following  pages  tell. 

The  liberal  education  tends  to  instil  a  reverence 
for  fixed  standards  ;  therefore  an  adherence  to  these 
methods  must  encourage  rigidity  and  make  innova- 


INTRODUCTION  XXXV 

tions  proportionately  difficult,  and  this  in  the  face  of 
a  huge,  complex  society,  moving  with  unexampled 
velocity.  An  extension  of  scientific  training  to 
branches  hitherto  controlled  by  conservatism  would 
doubtless  alter  moral  standards,  but  probably  only 
by  anticipating  by  a  few  years  an  inevitable  intel- 
lectual transformation.  The  advantage  would  be 
that  we  should  facilitate  adjustment  and  distance  our 
rivals  by  reaching  first  a  predestined  goal. 

The  following  essay  is  an  attempt  to  deal,  by  in- 
ductive methods,  with  the  consolidation  and  dissolu- 
tion of  those  administrative  masses  which  we  call 
empires.  The  same  method  might  be  applied  to  any 
phase  of  civilization,  artistic,  literary,  or  mihtary. 
My  observation  leads  me  to  surmise  that  the  intel- 
lectual stimulus  of  an  environment  acts  very  uni- 
formly, and  that  where  a  community  is  roused  to 
activity  in  one  direction,  it  will  be  active  in  all  di- 
rections in  which  it  has  capacity  to  succeed,  or  in 
which  opportunity  for  success  is  afforded. 

This  book  is  purely  tentative  and  only  suggests  an 
hypothesis  to  serve  as  a  stepping-stone  to  something 
better.  No  man  who  works  by  inductive  methods 
can  hope  either  to  be  complete,  or  to  reach  a  final 
result.  He  cannot  do  so,  because  he  attempts  to  deal 
with  infinite  sequences  of  cause  and  effect,  and  his 
mind  is  finite.  Like  any  other  generalization,  this 
will  serve  its  purpose  if  its  method  be  right  and  it 
prove  suggestive  to  others.  Its  object  is  to  be  set 
aside  by  those  who  follow  and  improve. 

From  the  days  of  Roger  Bacon  to  those  of  Darwin 
scientific  methods  and  scientific  theories  have  not 
commended  themselves  to  the  conservative.      They 


XXXVi  INTRODUCTION 

could  hardly  do  so,  since  they  undermine  tradition. 
Among  many  examples  which  might  be  cited  of  re- 
sistance to  innovation  one  must  suffice.  It  is,  per- 
haps, the  most  memorable.  On  June  22,  1633,  the 
Holy  Office  enunciated  the  following  decree  in  the 
trial  of  Galileo  for  heresy  :  — 

1.  That  the  sun  is  the  centre  of  the  world  and  im- 
movable is  a  proposition  absurd  and  false  in  phi- 
losophy, and  formally  heretical,  as  being  expressly 
contrary  to  Holy  Scripture. 

2.  That  the  earth  is  not  the  centre  of  the  world, 
nor  immovable,  but  that  it  moves  even  with  a  diurnal 
motion,  is  in  like  manner  a  proposition  absurd  and 
false  in  philosophy,  and,  considered  in  theology,  at 
least  erroneous  in  faith. 

To  escape  torture  Galileo  recanted,  but  still  he 
murmured,  "  e  pur  si  muove." 


THE    NEW    EMPIRE 


y 


THE    NEW   EMPIRE 


CHAPTER   I 

Two  propositions  seem  indisputable :  First,  that 
self-preservation  is  the  most  imperious  of  instincts ; 
Second,  that  in  his  efforts  to  prolong  his  life,  man 
has  followed  the  paths  of  least  resistance. 

Without  food  or  the  means  of  defence,  death  is 
inevitable,  and  as  few  communities  have  succeeded 
in  entirely  feeding  and  arming  themselves  from  their 
own  resources,  they  have  supplied  their  deficiencies 
from  abroad.  No  man  will  knowingly  use  interior 
weapons  in  war,  but  the  apprehension  of  want  is  al- 
most as  drastic  as  the  fear  of  defeat ;  even  savages 
try  to  improve  their  tools.  For  example,  the  Stone- 
Age  inhabitants  of  central  Europe  imported  jade 
axes  from  the  confines  of  the  desert  of  Gobi  because 
jade  takes  a  better  edge  than  flint.  Yet  the  cost  of 
conveying  jade  across  the  Pamirs  from  Khotan  to 
Germany  would  now  be  excessive,  and  then  must 
have  represented  a  prodigious  sacrifice. 

From  the  beginning,  therefore,  men  have  obtained 
wares  from  strangers.  They  have  done  so  both  by 
force  and  by  purchase ;  but  as  battle  is  uncertain 
they  have  inclined  toward  trade,  and  to  trade,  buyer 
and  seller  must  meet.  Usually  they  have  met  at  the 
junction  of  the  paths  leading  to  the  sources  of  sup- 


2  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

ply.  Here  houses  have  multiplied,  a  wall  to  protect 
the  houses  has  been  built,  and  within  the  wall  the 
neighboring  population  has  gathered  on  certain  days, 
or  at  certain  seasons,  and  thus  has  germinated  the 
market  or  fair.  Fairs  have  always  been  frequented 
in  proportion  to  their  consequence,  the  more  noted 
having  been  thronged  by  foreigners.  Nevertheless, 
no  fair  can  thrive  unless  accessible,  and  none  can  be 
accessible  with  approaches  closed  either  by  defects 
or  robbers ;  hence,  some  system  of  road-building  and 
police  must  precede  centralized  trade.  Nor  can  busi- 
ness be  transacted  without  a  tribunal  to  decide  dis- 
putes. Accordingly,  an  administrative  mechanism 
must  have  always  existed  at  market  towns,  and  the 
growth  of  this  mechanism  at  the  more  important  has 
created  capital  cities.  Thus,  it  may  be  inferred  that 
the  structure  we  call  civil  society  is  an  outgrowth  of 
trade.  Finally,  as  one  army  and  one  administrative 
corps  are  cheaper  than  several,  the  tendency  has 
been  toward  amalgamation ;  the  lesser  market  sink- 
ing into  insignificance,  and  the  petty  state  into  a  prov- 
ince. Many  independent  kingdoms  once  flourished 
together  in  Mesopotamia,  but,  when  consecutive  his- 
tory begins,  all  had  been  welded  into  a  single  organ- 
ism with  Babylon  for  a  heart. 

As  communications  improve  and  markets  broaden, 
roads  stretch  out  across  continents  and  join  oceans; 
then  the  empires  traversed  by  such  highways  cohere 
in  economic  systems,  since  they  have  a  common  inter- 
est to  resist  the  diversion  of  their  traffic.  Sooner 
or  later,  however,  parallel  routes  between  the  same 
termini  are  opened,  competition  between  the  systems 
acquires  intensity,  and  economic  competition  in  its 


1.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  3 

intensest  form  is  war.  Hence,  from  the  beginning 
of  history,  rival  systems  have  fought  with  and  de- 
stroyed each  other.  If  one  system  conquer,  con- 
solidation may  follow,  and  an  equilibrium  may  be 
obtained  which  may  endure  indefinitely,  as  did  the 
Roman  Empire  ;  but  if  neither  can  win  a  decisive 
advantage,  the  war  may  end  by  forcing  commerce 
into  other  channels,  and  both  combatants  may  perish. 
Such  was  substantially  the  fate  of  the  Greek  states. 

Among  the  inventions  which  have  stimulated 
movement  and  consequently  centralization,  none  has 
equalled  the  smelting  of  the  metals.  Smiths  have 
made  from  metal  superior  weapons  and  tools,  and 
races  using  these  implements  have,  in  the  end,  en- 
slaved or  exterminated  neighbors  adhering  to  wood 
and  stone,  wherefore  a  supply  of  metal  early  became 
essential  to  existence  in  the  more  active  quarters  of 
the  globe.  To  procure  ore  men  have  wandered  far 
and  wide,  and  thus  while  the  introduction  of  metal 
induced  a  more  rapid  concentration  at  the  heart  of 
the  civilized  mass,  it  caused  a  proportionate  expan- 
sion at  the  circumference.  Yet  no  empire  and  no 
system  can  expand  equally  in  all  directions,  for  the 
resistance  to  expansion  is  variable,  consequently 
growth  is  irregular ;  and  as  the  shape  of  the  organism 
changes,  the  arteries  connecting  its  extremities  must 
alter  their  course  to  correspond.  But  an  alteration 
of  the  course  of  the  circulation  presupposes  a  dis- 
placement of  the  heart,  and  for  this  reason  society 
tends  toward  instability  of  equilibrium. 

Evidently,  approached  from  this  standpoint,  min- 
eralogy and  geography  elucidate  history,  for  the  one 
helps  to  explain  the  forces  which  have  moved  the 


4  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  CHAP. 

seat  of  empire,  the  other  the  obstacles  which  have 
fixed  its  course  by  determining  the  path  of  least  re- 
sistance. Furthermore,  civilization  may  be  examined 
scientifically.  The  cause  may  be  deduced  from  the 
effect,  until  the  origin  of  the  phenomena  of  the  twen- 
tieth century  may  be  traced  back  to  the  murky  past 
which  preceded  the  pyramid  of  Cheops,  and  human 
development  may  be  presented  as  a  mechanical 
whole.  For  present  purposes  it  suffices  to  begin  with 
the  smelting  of  the  metals. 

We  know  not  when  Chaldea  and  Egypt  may  have 
emerged  from  the  Stone  Age,  but  nothing  indicates 
that  prior  to  4000  B.C.  either  community  had  achieved 
opulence.  On  the  contrary,  the  evidence  indicates 
that  both  empires  rose  to  fortune  through  a  success- 
ful speculation  made  by  the  Egyptians  in  Arabian 
copper,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  dynasty.  The 
richest  mines  then  known  lay  in  the  valley  of  Mag- 
hara  in  the  peninsula  of  Sinai,  and  though  the 
Egyptian  kings  appear  to  have  previously  invaded 
the  valley,  a  permanent  occupation  seems  only  to 
have  been  achieved  by  Sneferu,  about  4000  b.c. 

At  the  mouth  of  one  of  these  mines  Sneferu  com- 
memorated his  victory  by  causing  his  portrait  to  be 
cut  in  the  rock,  slaying  a  captive,  and,  near  by,  an 
inscription  to  be  carved  relating  his  triumph.  That 
victory,  by  making  Egypt  the  chief  producer  of 
metals,  made  her  the  western  terminus  of  commerce, 
and  the  market  whose  tastes  had  to  be  consulted  by 
all  who  needed  the  minerals  she  had  to  sell.  Between 
Asia,  east  of  the  Tigris,  and  Egypt,  lay  Mesopotamia ; 
all  trade  routes  converged  there,  accordingly  Meso- 
potamia became  the  central  market  where  the  most 


1.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  5 

important  exchanges  were  effected,  and  thus  was 
founded  the  Babylonian  economic  system.  This 
mighty  system,  which,  in  its  prime,  comprised  all  the 
nations  bordering  the  highways  connecting  the  Oxus 
and  the  Indus  with  the  Guadalquivir,  flourished  for 
nearly  three  thousand  years.  Culminating  about  the 
siege  of  Troy,  for  some  centuries  it  struggled  with 
the  Greek  .system  afterward  established  along  the 
cheaper  waterways  of  the  north,  and  finally  sank  into 
ruin  under  the  onset  of  Alexander  the  Great. 

The  evidence  that  Egypt  achieved  affluence  through 
her  mines,  especially  her  Arabian  copper  mines,  is 
pretty  convincing.  The  Egyptians  were  good  metal- 
lurgists and  certainly  worked  gold,  iron,  copper,  and 
bfOH^e  before  the  fourth  dynasty.  The  gold  and  iron 
came  originally  from  Nubia.  According  to  Diodorus 
the  Nubian  gold  mines,  under  Rameses  II.  or  in  the 
fourteenth  century  B.C.,  yielded  annually  bullion  to 
the  value  of  $650,000,000.^  Possibly,  also,  the  Nubi- 
ans discovered  the  smelting  of  iron,  and  the  Egyptians 
may  in  early  times  have  drawn  their  supply  of  steel, 
especially  as  a  finished  product,  from  the  south. 
Afterward  they  mined  iron  in  the  valley  of  Maghara,  ] 
near  their  copper.  Yet  conceding  that  iron  was  used 
in  Egypt  under  Cheops,  it  cost  high,  and  held  a 
secondary  place  in  the  arts.  Copper  served  as  the 
useful  metal.^ 

Except  the  systematic  working  of  the  Maghara 
mines,  nothing  is  known  to  have  occurred  in  Egypt 
about  the  beginning   of    the    fourth    dynasty  which 

1  Die  Geschichte  des  Eisens,  Beck,  I.,  71. 

2  See  Die  Geschichte  des  Eisens,  Ludwig  Beck,  I.,  77,  96.  Also 
Histoire  de  PArt,  Perrot  &  Chipiez,  I.,  650,  831. 


6  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

could  have  caused  a  social  revolution.  The  relations 
of  the  country  with  Nubia  underwent  no  especial 
change  before  the  campaigns  of  Una,  five  hundred 
years  later ;  the  methods  of  industry,  transportation, 
and  agriculture  remained  unaltered,  and  yet,  im- 
mediately after  Sneferu's  conquest,  Egypt  entered 
her  golden  age.  This  fact  is  established  by  her 
architecture. 

Egyptian  emotion  found  its  strongest  expression 
in  the  tomb.  As  tomb  builders  the  Egyptians 
have  had  no  equal.  The  pyramid  stands  alone  as 
an  everlasting  abode  for  the  dead.  Also  the  era  of 
colossal  art  opens  with  Sneferu. 

Sneferu  reigned  for  twenty-nine  years,  between 
3998  B.C.  and  3969.  As  he  first  regularly  mined  the 
Sinai  copper,  so  he  first  built  a  pyramid.  He  even 
built  two,  one  of  which  survives.  Cheops  succeeded 
Sneferu,  and  Cheops's  tomb  is  still  a  wonder  of  the 
world.  Nor,  in  the  expenditure  lavished  on  details  of 
workmanship,  have  the  builders  of  the  pyramids  of 
Gizeh  ever  been  surpassed.  The  fourth  dynasty 
lasted  for  284  years,  during  which  period  construction 
continued  on  a  scale  thus  described  by  Flinders 
Petrie  :  "  The  simplicity,  the  vastness,  the  perfection, 
and  the  beauty  of  the  earliest  works  place  them  on  a 
different  level  to  all  works  of  art  and  man's  devices 
in  later  ages.  They  are  unique  in  their  splendid 
power,  which  no  self-conscious  civilization  has  ever 
rivalled,  or  can  hope  to  rival ;  and  in  their  enduring 
greatness  they  may  last  till  all  feebler  works  of  man 
have  perished."  ^ 

Egypt  must  have  amassed  wealth  rapidly  to  have 

^  History  of  Egypt,  I.,  67. 


I,  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  7 

borne  this  burden  through  near  three  centuries  with- 
out exhaustion,  and  the  magnitude  of  her  foreign 
trade  is  proved  by  the  rise  of  Mesopotamia  where 
her  commercial  exchanges  centred.  The  glory  of 
North  Mesopotamia  opened  with  the  renowned  Sar- 
gon,  who  reigned  about  3850  B.C.,  whose  empire  is 
supposed  to  have  extended  to  Cyprus,  if  not  to  Mag- 
hara  itself,  and  who  stands  as  the  first  of  that  long 
line  of  potentates  which  ended  with  the  Darius  who 
perished  in  his  flight  from  Alexander. 

Centuries  before  Sargon,  Ur  of  the  Chaldeans  held 
the  first  place  in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates.  Ur 
stood  at  the  junction  of  the  coast  road  from  India 
with  the  camel  track  leading  to  Sinai,  accordingly  the 
reasonable  inference  would  seem  to  be  that,  originally, 
the  chief  trafific  passed  straight  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Indus  to  the  mines  on  the  Red  Sea,  and  that  the 
highways  converging  at  Babylon  acquired  conse- 
quence later.  Ample  explanation  of  such  a  growth 
is  to  be  found  in  the  geography  of  central  Asia. 

The  combined  continents  of  Asia  and  Europe  have 
proved  impossible  to  develop  as  a  unit,  not  only 
because  their  different  shapes  demand  irreconcilable 
systems  of  transportation,  but  because  of  the  deserts 
and  mountains  in  their  midst.  Still  commerce  be- 
tween the  East  and  West  has  always  been  a  neces- 
sity, because  the  two  regions  supplement  each  other. 
While  India,  China,  and  Turkestan  have  been  re- 
nowned for  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  the  pro- 
duction of  luxuries  and  gems,  they  have  failed  to 
compete  in  the  metals ;  whereas  Europe,  though 
dependent  on  Asia  for  spices  and  the  Uke,  has  sur- 
passed her  in  mining. 


8  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

But  before  there  could  be  commercial  exchanges 
between  East  and  West,  avenues  of  communication 
had  to  be  opened,  and  the  cheapest  of  these  long  pre- 
sented insuperable  difficulties.  For  ages  the  voyage 
from  China  to  India,  and  from  India  to  Egypt,  defied 
nautical  skill. 

Although  primitive  savages  use  boats,  the  sail  is  a 
later  invention,  and  the  art  of  working  to  windward 
modern.  Dangerous  coasts  affright  the  navigators  of 
frail  ships  and  the  open  sea  appalls  them,  yet  the  voy- 
age to  Aden,  or  even  the  Euphrates,  lay  over  a  waste 
of  waters,  or  along  a  barbarous  and  desolate  shore. 

Even  as  late  as  325  b.c,  when  Nearchus  returned 
from  India  with  Alexander's  army,  the  Greek  gen- 
eral nearly  perished.  From  Pattala,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Indus,  it  took  Nearchus  nearly  three  months  to 
reach  the  Persian  Gulf.  There  he  met  Alexander, 
but  so  changed  by  hardship  that  the  emperor  did 
not  know  him.  Although,  of  course,  provided  with 
the  best  craft,  pilots,  and  stores  which  were  to  be 
obtained,  Nearchus  lost  several  ships  by  wreck,  had 
to  abandon  others,  narrowly  escaped  death  from  hun- 
ger and  thirst,  and  was  assailed  by  the  natives  when 
he  landed.  If  Nearchus  fared  so  ill  upon  the  short 
voyage  from  the  Indus  to  the  Tigris,  the  lot  of  the 
lonely  merchantman  bound  for  Egypt  may  be 
imagined.  Direct  communication  between  India  and 
Egypt  only  opened  after  the  Christian  era.  Therefore 
merchandise  crossed  central  Asia  by  caravan,  and  in  an- 
cient times  by  one  of  three  routes,  for  the  northern  plain 
now  traversed  by  the  Siberian  railway  led  to  no  market 
before  civilization  spread  to  the  Baltic.  Until  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  the  Mediterranean  afforded  the  only  vent. 


I.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  9 

The  heart  of  Asia  from  Lake  Baikal  to  India  is 
occupied  by  the  desert  of  Gobi  and  the  ranges  of  the 
Altai,  the  Pamirs,  the  Hindu  Kush,  and  the  Himalaya, 
forming  together  a  tremendous  barrier.  When,  after 
crossing  the  Gobi,  the  traveller  reached  Kashgar  or 
Yarkand  at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  he  might  turn 
to  the  south  toward  the  Indus,  keep  on  due  east 
toward  the  Oxus,  or  journey  north  into  the  valley  of 
the  Syr-Daria.  If  he  chose  the  southern  road,  he 
followed  the  paths  described  by  Wood  and  Young- 
husband  along  the  tributaries  of  the  Oxus  until  he 
found  a  pass  in  the  Hindu  Kush,  leading  to  India. ^ 
Once  on  the  banks  of  the  Indus  he  descended  the 
river  to  the  delta,  and,  at  Pattala,  took  the  southern 
highway  to  Babylon,  along  which  Alexander  marched. 
The  objections  to  this  route  were  manifold.  It  was 
long,  toilsome,  and  dangerous. 

Secondly,  merchants  utiHzed  the  valley  of  the  Syr- 
Daria.  After  the  fall  of  Troy  caravans  passed  along 
the  northern  coast  of  the  Caspian,  to  the  Sea  of 
Azov,  by  way  of  the  Volga  and  the  Don ;  and  since 
the  Middle  Ages  they  have  sought  Moscow,  by  Tash- 
kend,  Turkestan,  and  Orenburg.  Before  the  opening 
of  the  Hellespont  to  commerce,  these  northern  outlets 
were  closed,  and  traffic  had  to  pass  by  Maracanda, 
the  modern  Samarkand.  But  as  gaining  the  Syr-Daria 
from  Kashgar  involved  making  the  Terek  pass  12,700 
feet  high,  and  closed  in  summer  by  melting  snow, 
a  more  northern  track  through  Siberia,  and  south  of 
Lake  Balkash,  seems  to  have  been  preferred.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  Maracanda  never  attained  the  con- 

1  See  the  route  of  Benedict  Goes  given  on  Yule's  map  in  Cathay 
and  the  Way  Thither,  Vol.  2,  Hakluyt  Soc.  Publications. 


10  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

sequence  of  Bactra,  the  inference  being  that,  before 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  highway  on  which  the  town  stood 
remained  a  subsidiary  avenue.  In  1218,  at  the  open- 
ing of  his  campaign  against  Trans-Oxania,  Jenghiz 
Khan  marched  through  this  region  on  Otrar.  Doubt- 
less he  followed  what  was  then  the  beaten  track.  Will- 
iam of  Rubruck  was  carried  over  the  same  road  in 
1253,1  and  in  the  time  of  Tamerlane  the  northern  route 
seems  to  have  superseded  all  others.  Friar  William 
also  started  from  the  Sea  of  Azov,  an  outlet  much  used 
by  the  Greeks  and  also  by  the  Genoese.  Neverthe- 
less, in  antiquity,  speaking  broadly,  the  bulk  of  traffic 
probably  took  the  path  afterward  selected  by  Marco 
Polo,  who  kept  as  straight  as  might  be  across  the 
Pamirs  into  the  valley  of  the  Oxus,  and  thence  to 
Bactra,  which  we  know  as  the  wretched  hamlet  of 
Balkh.2  From  an  economic  standpoint  Bactra  pre- 
sents phenomena  of  surpassing  interest.  The  city  was 
created  by  the  junction  of  the  main  thoroughfare 
to  China  with  that  which  led  to  northern  India  by 
Bamian,  Kabul,  and  the  Khyber.  While  the  sea  pre- 
sented the  terrors  encountered  by  Nearchus,  the  mer- 
chants of  Kashmir  and  the  Punjab  had  the  alternative 
of  descending  the  Indus  and  then  journeying  by  land 
to  Babylon,  or  of  crossing  the  mountains  and  seeking 
Bactra.  Apparently  they  preferred  the  latter,  for 
the  ruins  of  Bamian  still  fill  the  pass,  while  the  re- 
mains of  Bactra  cover  a  circuit  of  twenty  miles,  after 
six  hundred  years  of  abandonment. 

1  See  map  prepared  by  Hon.  W.  W.  Rockhill  in  his  edition  of  The 
Jotirney  of  IVilliam  of  Rubruck,  Publications  of  Hakluyt  Soc,  Second 
Ser.,  No.  IV. 

2  For  Polo's  route,  see  Yule's  edition  of  Marco  Polo. 


1.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  II 

When  Nineveh  and  Babylon  were  born,  Bactra, 
the  mother  of  cities,  was  already  hoary.  The  legend 
has  it  that  when  Ninus,  the  founder  of  Babylon,  was 
besieging  Bactra,  the  ineffable  Semiramis  joined  his 
camp,  and  by  her  intelligence,  carried  the  walls. 
Ninus,  captivated  by  her  wit,  her  courage,  and  her 
beauty,  drove  her  husband  to  suicide  and  married 
her.  At  all  events  Bactra  long  remained  the  me- 
tropolis for  the  trade  of  China,  the  Punjab,  Kashmir, 
and  Turkestan ;  and  from  Bactra  many  roads  diverged 
to  the  sea.  Of  these  roads,  according  to  the  legend, 
Semiramis  built  the  first  across  the  Zagros  Mountains 
to  Babylon,  a  road  still  used  by  the  traveller  from 
Bagdad  to  Teheran.  A  second  avenue  unites  Balkh 
with  Teheran,  Mosul,  and  Alexandretta,  and  for- 
merly connected  the  famous  cities  of  Bactra,  Ragae, 
Gaugamela,  Nisabis,  Haran,  and  Aradus.  From  any 
Syrian  port  such  as  Aradus,  Tyre,  or  Sidon,  the  mari- 
ner steered  due  west  to  Cyprus,  Crete,  Carthage,  and 
Cadiz. 

Thus,  before  the  opening  of  the  Dardanelles,  the 
lands  beyond  the  Oxus  and  the  Indus  were  connected 
with  the  Mediterranean  by  three  main  thorough- 
fares :  — 

First,  that  which  leaving  Pattala  skirted  the  Ara- 
bian Sea  and  the  Persian  Gulf,  reaching  the  Nile  by 
Ur. 

Second,  that  built  by  Semiramis  across  the  Zagros 
Mountains  between  Bactra,  Babylon,  and  the  coast. 

Third,  that  which  joined  Bactra,  Nineveh,  Haran, 
and  Aradus. 

Upon  each  of  these  thoroughfares  a  great  market 
was  begotten,  and  if  the  chronological  order  in  which 


12  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

these  markets  grew  be  examined,  it  will  be  found  to 
indicate  a  movement  northward  of  the  seat  of  empire 
continued  through  thousands  of  years,  and  gaining 
constantly  in  velocity. 

The  rise  of  Ur,  the  most  southern  of  the  three 
capitals,  is  lost  in  the  past,  but  Ur  must  have  been 
extremely  ancient,  since  she  had  culminated  when 
Sargon  reigned  in  3850  b.c. 

In  Sargon's  time  the  centre  of  exchanges  seems  to 
have  been  in  transit,  for  Sargon's  chief  city  was, 
probably,  Nippur,  about  two-thirds  of  the  way  from  Ur 
to  Babylon ;  notwithstanding  which,  Babylon  only 
achieved  supremacy  fifteen  hundred  years  later,  under 
Hammurabi,  toward  2250  b.c.  Compared  with  such 
sluggishness  the  advance  from  Babylon  to  Nineveh 
was  rapid,  for  Salmanassar  established  the  prepon- 
derance of  Assyria  in  Mesopotamia  about  1300  b.c, 
Salmanassar  chose  for  the  site  of  his  capital  the  angle 
made  by  the  confluence  of  the  Tigris  and  the  Great 
Zab,  where  are  now  the  mounds  of  Nimrud.  His 
successors  moved  to  Nineveh,  eighteen  miles  up  the 
Tigris,  but  the  new  city  was  only  an  extension  of 
Calach.  Meanwhile,  movement  had  been  acceler- 
ated, for  Nineveh  lived  fast,  even  judged  by  modern 
standards.  Born  in  1300,  she  perished  in  607  B.C., 
just  as  Athens  and  Syracuse  blossomed. 

An  impulsion  so  persistent  must  have  been  the 
effect  of  an  equally  persistent  cause.  Such  a  cause 
might  have  been  the  expansion  of  the  economic  mass 
occasioned  by  the  opening  to  commerce  of  the  basins 
of  the  Mediterranean  and  Euxine.  It  can  be  demon- 
strated in  support  of  this  view  that  these  regions 
were  developed  during  this  interval. 


I.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 3 

Certainly  the  assumption  is  justified  that  prior  to 
4000  B.C.  Europe  was  barbarous  and  poor,  and  the 
purchasing  power,  even  of  Egypt,  limited.  The  Nile, 
therefore,  formed  the  terminus  of  the  eastern  trade, 
and  offered  the  single  market  of  consequence  west  of 
the  Euphrates.  Under  such  conditions  only  small 
articles  of  pure  necessity,  such  as  jade  axe-heads, 
could  have  been  transported  from  China  to  Europe 
over  the  long  and  costly  route  by  Bactra.  Bulky 
merchandise  would  have  followed  the  shortest  road 
to  Egypt.  That  road  lay  through  Ur  and  Arabia 
straight  to  Sinai,  where  copper  might  be  obtained 
for  goods. 

The  conquest  of  Maghara  worked  a  social  revolu- 
tion in  the  west  by  enlarging  its  purchasing  power, 
and  creating  capitalistic  accumulations  in  Chaldea 
which  stimulated  expansion.  This  appears  from  the 
annexation  of  Cyprus  by  Sargon,  and  the  transfer- 
ence of  mining  activity  from  the  Red  Sea  to  the 
Mediterranean.  The  Phoenicians  led  in  enterprise, 
and  the  discovery  and  development  of  Cyprian  cop- 
per was  the  first  of  their  many  industrial  triumphs. 
Another  thousand  years  elapsed  before  Babylon 
achieved  supremacy,  for  Babylon's  rise  was  the  effect 
of  the  extension  of  exchanges  westward  until  they, 
probably,  reached  the  Atlantic.  That  such  an  exten- 
sion occurred  is  proved  by  the  recent  excavations  in 
Crete,  which  show  that  in  2400  B.C.,  or  before  Ham- 
murabi, Crete  had  become  a  civilized  and  opulent 
kingdom,  and  a  foremost  maritime  power.  Crete 
could  only  have  prospered  because  she  lay  in  the 
track  of  a  lucrative  commerce  flowing  west,  and  that 
commerce  must  have  been  the  Bactra  trade   which 


14  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

reached  Babylon  over  the  highway  of  Semiramis  as 
soon  as  Babylon  offered  a  market  for  costly  wares. 
These  wares  passed  from  Babylon  to  a  Phoenician 
port,  such  as  Tyre  or  Sidon,  and  thence  were  shipped 
wherever  they  could  be  exchanged  for  metal  or  slaves. 
Who  the  Phoenicians  were,  and  whence  they  came, 
is  immaterial.  Archaeologists  incline  to  the  opinion 
that  they  migrated  from  India  to  the  head  of  the 
Persian  Gulf  and  thence  passed  on  into  Syria,  proba- 
bly always  in  the  wake  of  the  commerce  which  they 
loved  so  well.  Nor  did  their  migrations  stop  at 
Syria ;  a  few  hundred  years  later  they  had  wandered 
to  Spain  by  way  of  Utica,  and  founded  Cadiz.  The 
Phoenicians  were  the  greatest  explorers  and  metallur- 
gists of  antiquity.  They  penetrated  every  inlet  and 
prospected  in  every  land.  They  developed  the  re- 
sources of  southern  Europe  and  northern  Africa  west 
of  Egypt,  and  as  the  sphere  of  Phoenician  enterprise 
expanded,  the  lines  of  communication  changed  to 
correspond.  Therefore  the  route  across  Arabia  to 
Sinai  yielded  to  those  leading  to  Aradus,  Tyre,  and 
Sidon.  A  glance  at  the  map  will  explain  the  situa- 
tion. Nobody  knows  where  the  ancients  obtained  the 
tin  with  which  they  made  bronze  in  the  early  times, 
for  tin  is  not  supposed  to  have  been  found  in  any 
region  accessible  to  them.  Primitive  workings  are, 
indeed,  said  to  exist  near  Bamian,  but  the  cost  of 
transporting  ore  from  Bamian  to  Egypt  by  caravan 
must  have  been  prohibitive.  A  plausible  theory  is 
that  before  the  Phoenicians  reached  Cornwall  by  sea, 
they  dealt  with  the  natives  for  tin  at  the  mouths  of 
such  rivers  as  the  Rhone,  where  it  had  come  from 
England  by  passing  from  hand  to  hand;  that  they 


I.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 5 

slowly  traced  the  supply  to  its  source,  and  so  dis- 
covered the  mines. ^ 

But  wherever  they  found  their  ore,  the  Phoenicians 
certainly  waxed  rich  by  their  dealings  in  metals,  and, 
as  capital  increased,  ships  multiplied,  energy  aug- 
mented, and  exploration  went  on  faster.  The  next 
step  was  the  development  of  the  countries  bordering 
the  Euxine,  and  probably  expansion  in  this  direction 
received  its  first  stimulus  from  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  Lydia. 

When  the  Lydian  gold  first  permeated  the  inter- 
national market  can  never  be  ascertained,  but,  judg- 
ing by  the  legends,  it  must  have  been  during  the 
Babylonian  supremacy.  According  to  the  myth,  cer- 
tain peasants  having  found  Silenus  drunk  in  a  garden 
belonging  to  Midas,  bound  him  with  garlands  of 
flowers  and  brought  him  to  the  king.  Midas  enter- 
tained him  for  some  days,  and  then  restored  him  to 
Dionysus,  who  in  his  gratitude  granted  Midas  a  wish. 
Midas  wished  to  turn  all  he  touched  into  gold.  But 
in  eating  he  turned  his  food  into  gold,  so  that,  on  the 
brink  of  starvation,  Midas  prayed  to  be  saved  from 
himself.  The  god  ordered  him  to  bathe  at  the  source 
of  the  Pactolus,  whose  sands  forthwith  became  gold. 
From  this  sand  Croesus  afterward  drew  his  wealth. 
Lydian  gold  opened  a  new  market  and  drew  trade 
north.  Doubtless  this  trade  first  passed  by  Nineveh 
to  Tarsus,  and  then  through  the  Cilician  Gates  to 
Sardis  by  way  of  Philadelphia,  a  route  which  Taver- 
nier  mentioned  as  much  used  in  his  time ;  or  else  it 
may  have  gone  up  the  valley  of  the  Tigris,  and  over 
what   later   became   the    Royal    Persian    Road.      In 

^  See  Die  Geschichte  des  Eisens,  Beck,  I.,  184  et  seq. 


1 6  THE  NEW  EMPIRE 


CHAP. 


either  case  the  journey  through  Nineveh  necessitated 
a  long  detour,  the  direct  Hne  to  Sardis  and  Smyrna 
from  Teheran  passing  to  the  north  of  Lake  Van, 
through  the  modern  Tabriz  and  Erzeroum.  But  all 
Armenia  is  mountainous  and  difficult,  and  it  was  the 
difficulty  of  Armenia  which  ruined  the  Assyrian  em- 
pire. The  Caucasus  and  Urals  are  rich  in  minerals, 
and  once  abounded  in  gold.  Georgia  has  always 
been  famous  for  its  slaves.  And  as  travel  drew 
northward  toward  the  shortest  Hues  of  communica- 
tion, these  regions  began  to  be  explored  not  only 
overland,  but  through  such  ports  as  Trebizond  and 
Sinope.  How  rich  this  region  must  have  been  for 
the  early  adventurers  is  proved  by  every  discovery  of 
modern  times.  Not  to  speak  of  th§,  gold  ornaments 
of  Panticapaeum,  found  by  the  Russians,  and  which 
belong  to  a  later  age,  Schliemann's  treasure  would  set 
doubt  at  rest.  A  generation  ago,  in  searching  for 
Troy,  Schhemann  fell  upon  the  lowest  of  six  super- 
imposed cities,  the  last  of  which  was  Ihum.  The 
town  Schhemann  unearthed  belonged  to  the  Stone 
Age,  so  far  as  useful  metals  were  concerned,  and 
must  have  been  extremely  ancient,  yet  in  this  small 
and  barbarous  community  he  found  the  hoard  which 
made  him  famous.  Beside  the  metals,  the  slaves 
of  Georgia  and  southern  Russia  have  always  been  of 
value.  When  Chardin  visited  Persia  in  1664,  he 
sailed  in  a  slaver. 

If  these  geographical  conditions  be  borne  in  mind 
the  career  of  Nineveh  is  comprehensible.  Nineveh 
prospered  during  the  relatively  short  period  when 
she  served  as  the  centre  of  the  trade  passing  east  and 
west,  between  Bactra,  the  northern  ports  of  Syria, 


1.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  1 7 

Lydia,  and  the  basin  of  the  Black  Sea.  When  that 
commerce  sought  cheaper  routes,  she  fell ;  but  while 
she  lived,  she  Hved  only  on  the  condition  that  she 
could  hold  and  police  the  avenues  running  west  and 
north.  Accordingly  her  story  is  one  of  perpetual 
war.  Her  emperor  lived  in  the  field.  The  campaigns 
of  Tiglat-Pileser  I.  about  11 00  B.C.,  one  of  the  greatest 
of  her  captains,  and  who  achieved  a  suzerainty  over 
Babylon,  are  typical  of  what  happened  during  every 
reign.  Tiglat-Pileser  I.  passed  his  life  in  warfare 
along  the  highways  diverging  from  Nineveh  toward 
Syria  and  Armenia.  The  fiercest  fighting  occurred 
in  Armenia,  in  the  same  country  where  Mithradates, 
centuries  afterward,  resisted  Rome. 

The  seasons  resembled  each  other,  but,  according 
to  Winckler,  he  achieved  one  of  his  most  brilliant 
successes  in  the  second  year  of  his  reign,  when  he 
conquered  the  Kummuchs,  a  nomadic  and  predatory 
tribe  which  inhabited  the  hills  between  Haran  and 
Amida,  and  robbed  on  the  road  to  Antioch. 

In  the  fifth  year  he  marched  through  north  Meso- 
potamia to  Aradus,  and  celebrated  his  triumph  by 
sailing  upon  the  open  sea.^  Nevertheless  his  most 
important  victory  was  probably  achieved  in  Armenia, 
—  a  victory  commemorated  by  a  column  which  still 
stands.  The  road  from  Trebizond  to  Nineveh  skirts 
the  base  of  the  huge  extinct  volcano  called  Nimrud, 
which  forms  the  core  of  the  mountainous  region  about 
Lake  Van,  and  Betlis  to  the  south  of  Nimrud  com- 
mands the  pass  leading  to  the  plateau  above.  For 
ages  the  princes  of  Betlis  maintained  their  indepen- 
dence;    the  last  fell  in    1849.      Tavernier,  who  left 

*  Geschichte  Babyloniens  und  Assyriens,  Hugo  Winckler,  175. 
C 


l8  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

Paris  for  Persia  in  November,  1663,  thus  described 
their  fortress :  — 

"  Betlis  is  the  principal  town  of  a  bey  or  prince  of 
the  country,  the  most  powerful  and  the  most  con- 
siderable of  all ;  because  he  recognizes  neither  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey  nor  the  King  of  Persia,  while  the 
others  all  owe  allegiance  to  one  or  the  other.  Both 
powers  are  interested  in  standing  well  with  him, 
because  on  whichever  side  he  might  range  himself, 
it  would  be  easy  for  him  to  close  the  road  to  those 
who  wish  to  take  this  route  from  Aleppo  to  Tabriz, 
or  from  Tabriz  to  Aleppo.  For  there  are  no  moun- 
tain passes  to  be  seen  in  the  world  easier  to  guard, 
and  ten  men  will  defend  them  against  a  thousand. 
In  approaching  Betlis  when  one  comes  from  Aleppo, 
one  marches  an  entire  day  between  high  and  steep 
mountains  which  continue  for  two  leagues  beyond. 
And  one  has  always  on  one  side  the  torrent  and  on 
the  other  the  mountains,  the  path  being  cut  in  the 
rock  in  many  places,  so  that  the  camels  and  the 
mules  have  to  walk  cautiously  to  prevent  falling  into 
the  water." 

The  castle  stood  perched  on  a  sugar-loaf  hill,  so 
steep  that  it  could  only  be  reached  by  a  zigzag,  and 
was  defended  by  three  moats. 

"  The  prince  who  commands  in  this  place,  beside 
being  redoubtable  because  of  this  pass  which  cannot 
be  forced,  can  put  in  the  field  twenty  or  twenty-five 
thousand  horse,  and  a  quantity  of  excellent  infantry 
composed  of  the  shepherds  of  the  country,  who  are 
always  ready  at  the  first  command."  ^ 

"^  Les  Six  Voyages  de  Jean  Bapthte  Tavernier,  Edition  of  1 712. 
Livre  3,  p.  375,  6. 


I.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 9 

To  place  Nineveh's  commercial  interests  on  any- 
thing approaching  a  solid  basis,  she  should  have  con- 
quered and  held  Armenia,  but  more  especially  the 
country  round  Lake  Van,  where  the  roads  leading 
west  from  Tabriz  and  north  from  Nineveh  crossed. 
The  Assyrians  failed ;  and  they  paid  the  penalty  of 
failure. 

Among  the  many  commanders  who  essayed  the 
task,  perhaps  Tiglat-Pileser  fared  best,  for  he  not 
only  forced  the  pass  of  Betlis,  but  he  met  the  enemy 
on  the  plain  of  Melazkert  above,  and  routed  them  at 
the  point  where  the  roads  to  Trebizond  and  Kars  fork. 
There  he  erected  the  pillar  which  commemorates  his 
victory. 

Had  the  Assyrian  race  possessed  the  energy  to  con- 
tinue the  movement  northward,  to  conquer  Armenia, 
to  extend  their  power  along  the  coast  to  the  Darda- 
nelles, and  to  overrun  Lydia,  as  the  Persians  did 
subsequently,  possibly  the  life  of  the  Babylonian 
system  might  have  been  prolonged  for  centuries, 
and  the  rise  of  Greece  proportionately  postponed. 
The  fate  of  Asia  was  not  so  much  decided  at  Salamis 
as  centuries  before  at  Van.  Assyria  produced  no 
greater  warrior  than  Tiglat-Pileser  III.,  and  under 
him  she  made  the  supreme  effort.  In  735  B.C.  he 
advanced  on  Van,  took  the  town,  and  laid  siege  to 
the  citadel.  He  suffered  a  repulse,  and  retreated. 
Then  Assyria  began  to  decline,  and  during  the  season 
of  her  decay  the  Greeks  gained  strength  to  resist  the 
Persian  onset  when  the  storm  broke  three  hundred 
years  later.^ 

^  For  an  account  of  the  Van  country,  see  Armenia,  by  H.  F.  B. 
Lynch,  2,  53  ^^  seq. 


20  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

As  long  as  the  Dardanelles  remained  closed,  and 
the  Greeks  were  excluded  from  the  Euxine,  they  lay 
too  far  to  the  north  to  participate  in  the  Bactra  trade, 
or  to  seriously  compete  with  the  Phoenicians.  The 
question  of  unchallenged  Asiatic  supremacy  turned 
upon  command  of  the  straits,  and  this  both  sides  seem 
to  have  understood.  Even  hampered  as  they  were 
by  their  inability  to  hold  the  roads  to  the  northwest, 
the  Assyrians  appear  to  have  done  their  best  to  pro- 
tect their  interests.  Diodorus  has  stated  that  Troy 
received  help  from  Nineveh  during  the  siege;  and 
apart  from  Diodorus,  the  legend  of  the  Argonauts 
proves  the  danger  which  attended  an  attempt  to 
enter  the  Propontis,  and  leads  to  the  inference  that 
Troy  must  have  been  an  outwork  of  the  Assyrian- 
Phoenician  combination.  On  their  side  the  Greeks 
showed  a  patience  in  attack  perhaps  unequalled  in 
their  history.  Though  wonderfully  gifted  in  many 
directions,  the  Greeks  usually  lacked  cohesion.  Sel- 
dom, even  when  invaded,  could  they  unite  against  an 
enemy.  Yet  Agamemnon  formed  a  coalition  for  an 
aggressive  campaign,  and  won  a  decisive  victory. 
Nor  were  they  less  successful  in  improving  their  ad- 
vantage than  in  gaining  it.  All  the  world  has  heard 
of  the  deeds  of  the  heroes  before  the  walls  of  Troy; 
but  very  few  have  reflected  on  the  genius  which 
raised  the  children  of  these  heroes  from  insignificance 
to  supremacy  in  the  Orient. 

The  Greeks  excelled  not  only  as  soldiers,  as  artists, 
as  orators,  and  as  poets,  but  as  colonizers  and  finan- 
ciers. Long  study  alone  breeds  an  appreciation  of 
their  marvellous  aptitudes.  Advancing  steadily  for 
centuries,  they  wrought  out  a  system  for  controlling 


I.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  21 

the  roads  converging  on  Bactra,  at  once  comprehen- 
sive and  economical.  Their  scanty  numbers  precluded 
extended  conquests,  their  poverty  the  maintenance  of 
great  armies ;  they  therefore  limited  themselves  to 
seizing  and  holding  the  points  which  commanded 
trade.  But  the  Greek  system  deserves  to  be  followed 
from  the  beginning. 

The  Greeks,  though  intelligent  and  brave,  were 
scattered  and  poor.  Their  sterile  hills  yielded  but  a 
precarious  subsistence,  their  mines  were  undeveloped, 
and  they  eked  out  a  slender  livelihood  by  slaving  and 
piracy.  These  conditions  are  reflected  in  their  myths, 
which  teem  with  their  revolt  against  oppression  and 
their  yearning  for  that  wealth  which  poured  past  their 
threshold.  The  exquisite  tale  of  Theseus,  who  volun- 
teered to  take  his  place  among  the  victims  sent  to 
Crete,  that  he  might  fight  and  slay  the  Minotaur 
and  deliver  his  country  from  the  yoke  of  Minos ;  of 
his  victory,  of  his  return  with  the  black  sail  which 
was  to  signify  his  death,  and  of  his  father's  agony 
and  suicide  at  the  sight,  is  the  tradition  of  the  upris- 
ing against  Cretan  slaving.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
have  the  Ar^-o  penetrating  the  Euxine,  and  Jason 
bringing  back  the  golden  fleece  from  Colchis,  where 
the  Greeks  afterward  planted  Phasis,  the  door  to  the 
Caspian ;  and  last  and  greatest  of  all,  Hercules,  who 
sought,  in  the  garden  of  the  Hesperides,  those  golden 
apples  which  were  to  be  plucked  in  Spain. 

Stretching  east  from  Sunium,  the  islands  lie  so 
close  together  that  the  longest  interval  of  open 
water  between  Attica  and  Ionia  is  the  twenty-five 
miles  separating  Myconos  from  Icaria.  At  the  end 
of  this  chain  of  islands  lies  Miletus,  and  it  was  along 


22  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

this  causeway  that  Neleus,  the  son  of  Codrus,  must 
have  passed  when  he  founded  the  mother  of  the 
Greek  colonies  in  Asia.  Perhaps,  indeed,  Neleus 
may  have  come  rather  as  the  leader  of  a  reenforce- 
ment  than  as  the  actual  founder  of  Miletus.  Codrus 
lived  in  1050  B.C.,  which  is  relatively  late,  and  the 
Greek  tradition  seldom  went  back  to  the  original 
settlement,  but  rather  chronicled  the  events  which 
dwelt  in  the  popular  imagination  as  the  beginning  of 
the  Golden  Age.  Nevertheless,  the  precise  date  is 
immaterial ;  the  essential  fact  is  that  no  sooner  had 
the  Greeks  planted  themselves  firmly  on  the  coast 
than  they  spread  along  the  shore,  colonizing  the  more 
important  points,  until  at  Lampsacus,  at  Chalcedon, 
and  at  Byzantium  they  obtained  control  of  the  straits. 
Probably  they  had  previously  explored  the  Euxine, 
for  they  appear  very  early  to  have  seized  upon  all  the 
avenues  converging  on  the  sea,  by  which  trade  could 
find  vent.  They  built  Tyras,  near  where  Odessa  now 
stands,  and  Olbia  at  the  entrance  to  the  chain  of 
watercourses,  by  following  which,  traffic  through- 
out the  Middle  Ages  reached  Scandinavia  by  the 
Dnieper,  the  Lovat,  and  Lake  Ladoga.  Farther  east, 
in  the  Crimea,  they  settled  at  Panticapaeum,  the  mod- 
ern Kertch,  where  recent  excavations  have  yielded 
the  gold  ornaments  which  are  the  gem  of  the  Her- 
mitage in  St.  Petersburg.  From  Panticapaeum  mer- 
chants travelled  to  the  Caspian  by  ascending  the 
Don,  crossing  the  neck  between  the  rivers,  and 
descending  the  Volga.  Poti  is  the  terminus  of  the 
Caucasian  railway,  whence  the  line  leads  direct  to 
Tiflis  and  Baku;  but  Poti  occupies  the  site  of  the 
ancient  Phasis,  as  Trebizond,  the  port  of  Teheran, 


I.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  23 

does  of  Trapezus.  Lastly  came  Sinope,  where  the 
roads  met  which  led  southeast  to  Nineveh,  or  Mosul, 
and  southwest  to  Sardis,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom 
of  Croesus.  Yet  this  was  but  the  half  of  what  the 
Greeks  conceived  and  executed.  To  have  established 
connections  with  the  East  alone  would  not  have  suf- 
ficed; a  market  had  to  be  secured  in  the  West. 
Accordingly  while  Athens,  Megara,  and  Miletus 
girdled  the  Black  Sea,  Corinth  and  Achaia  stretched 
out  to  Sicily  and  Italy,  and  contemporaneously  cre- 
ated Syracuse,  Sybaris,  Croton,  and  Tarentum  —  the 
immortal  Magna  Grascia. 

Before  the  Greeks  navigated  the  Black  Sea,  mer- 
chandise must  have  reached  Sardis  by  caravan,  prob- 
ably over  the  road  which  crossed  the  Maeander  near 
Hierapolis,  a  route  described  by  Xenophon,  and  after- 
ward by  Tavernier.  Miletus  lay  below,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  and  flourished  not  only  on  the  trade 
which  flowed  directly  to  it,  but  also  as  one  of  the 
ports  of  Sardis.  The  Greeks  inhabiting  Miletus 
grew  rich  fast,  and  as  they  prospered  pushed  for- 
ward by  sea  toward  the  sources  of  supply,  always 
seeking  cheaper  avenues  of  communication.  In  their 
explorations  they  could  not  have  met  with  much 
opposition,  for  the  Euxine  had  an  infamous  reputa- 
tion, and  the  inhabitants  of  Asia  Minor  were  timid 
sailors.  Of  course  no  caravan  from  Teheran  can  now 
compete  with  steamers  on  the  Black  Sea,  but  they 
did  better  when  ships  were  frailer,  and,  even  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  Persians  and  Frenchmen  pre- 
ferred the  sixty  days  of  horseback  to  facing  the 
perils  of  the  voyage  to  Trebizond,  which  is  still  the 
port  of  Teheran. 


24  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

The  best  early  account  of  the  journey  east  by 
sea  is  given  by  Ruy  Gonzalez  de  Clavijo,  an 
ambassador  sent  by  Henry  III.  of  Castile  to  Tamer- 
lane at  Samarkand,  Samarkand  lies  in  nearly 
the  same  longitude  as  Bactra,  only  farther  north, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Oxus,  so  that  the  journey 
thither  was  substantially  the  same  as  that  to 
Balkh. 

On  Tuesday,  the  22d  of  May,  1403,  the  embassy 
embarked  at  Cadiz,  but  they  did  not  finally  leave 
Spain  until  the  29th,  when  they  sailed  from  Malaga. 
Although  Clavijo  travelled  in  state,  he  made  use  of 
ordinary  merchantmen,  so  that  he  underwent  the 
delays  incident  to  commerce,  and  his  voyage  to  Trebi- 
zond  may  be  taken  as  typical.  From  Trebizond  he 
rode  so  hard,  by  the  command  of  Tamerlane,  that 
several  of  his  suite  died  of  fatigue.  No  caravan 
could  have  done  the  like.  Nevertheless  he  only 
reached  Samarkand  a  year  from  the  30th  of  the  fol- 
lowing August.  Clavijo  found  both  the  Mediterra- 
nean and  the  Black  seas  dangerous,  the  Black  hardly 
more  so  than  the  Mediterranean,  considering  that  he 
traversed  the  Mediterranean  in  summer,  and  only 
reached  the  Euxine  in  the  middle  of  November.  He 
consumed  five  months  in  gaining  Constantinople,  and 
more  than  once  gave  himself  up  for  lost.  For  ex- 
ample, on  July  29th,  his  ship  drifted  so  near  a  rock 
that  "  the  captain,  and  some  merchants  and  sailors, 
stripped  off  their  clothes ;  and,  when  they  stood  off 
the  shore,  they  understood  that  God  had  shown  great 
mercy."  At  Constantinople  the  ambassador  waited 
until  November  13th  for  "a  vessel  to  take  them  to 
Trebizond ;  and,  as  the  winter  was  approaching  and 


I.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  2$ 

the  sea  very  dangerous  .  .  .  they  took  a  galliot  to 
prevent  further  delay." 

On  the  second  day  out,  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
"the  wind  rose  and  the  sea  got  up."  They  were 
lying  within  sight  of  a  Genoese  carrack  and  tried  to 
reach  her,  but  it  blew  so  hard  that  they  could  not. 
Then  they  let  go  two  anchors,  but  "  the  gale  increased 
in  a  frightful  way,  and  every  person  commended  him- 
self to  God  our  Lord,  for  they  thought  they  would 
never  escape."  Meanwhile  the  carrack  "was  like  to 
run  foul  of  the  galliot ;  but  it  pleased  our  Lord  God 
to  succour  her,  and  she  passed  without  touching  ;  and 
they  let  go  the  anchors  of  the  said  carrack,  but  they 
would  not  hold,  and  she  drifted  on  shore.  Before 
day,  she  had  gone  to  pieces,  so  that  nothing  was  left 
of  her."  The  galliot  lived  through  the  night,  and 
with  dawn  the  wind  changed,  "  and  became  fair  for 
the  land  of  Turkey."  "  There  were  few  to  assist 
in  working  the  sail,  as  the  greater  part  of  the  crew 
were  more  dead  than  alive,  so  that  if  death  had 
really  come,  they  would  not  have  cared  much," 
Finally  they  reached  shore,  but  the  galhot  went 
aground  and  "  the  sea  swept  into  her,  and  at  intervals 
the  swell  caused  by  the  tempest  broke  over  her ;  and 
in  the  lulls  the  men  carried  the  things  to  the  land, 
and  thus  all  the  king's  property  was  saved.  In  a 
very  short  time,  however,  the  galliot  was  broken  up, 
and  her  cargo  was  piled  up  in  a  heap." 

So  Clavijo  returned  to  Pera,  where  they  remained 
all  winter,  reaching  Trebizond  the  nth  of  April, 
nearly  eleven  months    after   leaving    Spain. ^     Even 

1  Narration  of  the  Embassy  of  Ruy  Gonzalez  de  Clavijo  to  the 
Court  of  Tirnour,  53,  Publicalions  of  ihe  Hakluyt  Society. 


26  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

within  this  century,  Curzon  has  estimated  that  half 
the  Turkish  ships  navigating  the  Black  Sea  were 
lost  annually. 

Chardin,  who  visited  Persia  in  1664,  did  not  like 
Black  Sea  ships.  "  I  pointed  out  to  him  that  we  had 
neither  provisions  nor  supplies,  that  the  vessel  was 
old,  that  it  was  filled  daily  with  slaves  of  both  sexes 
and  all  ages,  so  that  one  could  no  longer  move  on 
her.  That  since  morning  there  had  arrived  a  large 
number  of  Abcas  and  Migralians  who  swarmed  with 
vermin,  and  brought  an  infection  which  would  en- 
gender the  pest,  that  the  vessel  would  only  sail  for 
Kaffa  in  two  months,  that  this  would  be  the  season 
of  tempests,  and  the  time  when  the  Black  Sea,  that 
sea  so  stormy  and  dangerous,  is  the  most  disturbed 
by  hurricanes."  1 

Tavernier  shared  these  views  :  "  Embarking  from 
Constantinople,  one  can  arrive  there  [Trebizond] 
with  a  favorable  wind  in  four  or  five  days.  In  this 
way  one  can  make  in  ten  or  twelve  days,  at  slight 
expense,  the  journey  from  Constantinople  to  Erze- 
roum.  Some  have  tried  this  route,  but  they  have  not 
found  it  satisfactory,  and  have  not  wished  to  return. 
It  is  a  very  dangerous  voyage,  and  rarely  made,  be- 
cause this  sea  is  full  of  fogs,  and  subject  to  tempests." 

Each  race  followed  its  instincts,  the  more  hardy 
and  adventurous  gaining  the  advantage.  Chardin 
and  Tavernier  represented  the  French ;  and  the 
French,  on  the  whole,  fell  steadily  behind  in  the 
Levant,  where  during  the  crusades  they  stood  fore- 
most.    The  Venetians,  the  Genoese,  and  afterward 

1  Voyages  de  M.  le  Chevalier  Chardin,  Edition  of  Amsterdam, 
I7II,  2,  II. 


I.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  27 

the  English,  followed  the  sea,  and  ousted  their  rivals 
who  adhered  to  caravans.  When  Clavijo  returned  to 
Pera  after  his  wreck,  he  found  "  six  Venetian  galleys  at 
the  great  city  ...  to  meet  the  ships  which  were  com- 
ing from  Tana."  And  the  Genoese  were  more  active 
than  the  Venetians.  The  Persians  always  shunned 
the  water.  Tavernier  mentioned  that  a  caravan  left 
Constantinople  every  two  months  for  Persia,  and  the 
one  he  joined  at  Smyrna  for  Ispahan  numbered 
twelve  hundred  horses  and  camels.  The  Greeks  in 
700  B.C.  held  the  same  advantage  as  the  Italians  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  only  in  a  greater  degree.  The  most 
intelligent  and  enterprising  of  all  the  ancient  races, 
they  faced  the  danger  of  the  voyage  to  Trebizond 
in  order  to  benefit  by  its  economy ;  and  they  earned 
their  reward.  In  those  early  days  central  Asia  was 
more  flourishing  than  it  ever  has  been  since,  for  then 
none  of  its  commerce  had  been  diverted.  When 
Clavijo  lived,  the  routes  were  being  abandoned,  and 
yet  he  visited  a  land  which,  although  it  had  been 
invaded,  devastated,  and  superseded  as  a  thorough- 
fare, still  impressed  him  as  opulent.  For  instance, 
the  Spaniard  described  Nishapoor  as  "  very  large,  and 
well  supplied  with  all  things.  .  .  .  the  neighborhood 
is  very  populous  and  fertile"  .  .  .  where  one  of  his 
suite  named  Gomez  was  lodged  in  a  good  house,  and 
attended  by  the  best  doctors ;  "  but  it  pleased  God  that 
the  said  Gomez  should  end  his  days  at  this  place." 
Nishapoor  is  now  a  ruinous  village  with  a  population 
estimated  at  eight  thousand.  Tabriz,  though  decayed, 
still  remains  one  of  the  most  prosperous  cities  of 
Persia.  "  The  city  of  Tabriz  is  very  large  and  rich, 
owing  to  the   quantity  of   merchandise  that   passes 


28  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

through  it  every  day.  They  say  that  in  former  days 
it  was  more  populous ;  but  even  now  there  are  more 
than  two  hundred  thousand  inhabited  houses.  There 
are  also  many  market-places,  in  which  they  sell  very 
clean  and  well-dressed  meat,  cooked  in  a  variety  of 
ways,  and  plenty  of  fruit.  ...  In  this  city  there  are 
many  very  rich  and  beautiful  mosques,  and  the  finest 
baths  that,  I  believe,  can  be  seen  in  the  whole  world."  ^ 
Two  hundred  thousand  inhabited  houses  indicated  a 
population  approximating  a  milHon ;  but  about  1680, 
though  Chardin  spoke  of  Tabriz  with  enthusiasm  "  as 
a  really  great  and  powerful  city,  whose  commerce 
extended  through  Persia,  Muscovy,  Tartary,  India, 
and  the  Black  Sea,"  he  computed  that  she  possessed 
no  more  than  fifteen  thousand  dwellings,  or,  in  other 
words,  that  the  population  had  shrunk  to  less  than 
one  hundred  thousand.  At  present  the  buildings  of 
Tabriz  are  mean,  the  only  remains  of  former  grandeur 
being  the  ruins  of  the  Blue  Mosque  and  the  citadel. 

The  movement  northward  of  the  current  of  travel 
to  the  road  leading  across  Siberia  to  Moscow  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  discovery  of  the  ocean  voyage 
round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  India  and  China  on 
the  other,  killed  this  ancient  civilization.  In  the  fif- 
teenth century,  though  the  revolution  was  in  progress, 
it  had  not  been  completed.  A  remnant  of  the  Indian 
trade  still  survived. 

At  Sultanieh,  Clavijo  found  that  each  year  "very 
large  caravans  of  camels  arrived,  with  great  quantities 
of  merchandise.  .  .  .  Every  year  many  merchants 
come  here  from  India,  with  spices,  such  as  cloves,  nut- 
megs,   cinnamon,  .  .  .  and    other    precious    articles 

1  Embassy  to  Timour,  90. 


I.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  29 

which  do  not  go  to  Alexandria."  ^  When  the  eastern 
trade  spHt,  and,  to  avoid  the  Pamirs,  either  passed 
by  sea  to  Europe  or  else  went  north  by  Siberia, 
the  civilization  of  central  Asia  died.  Therefore, 
to  judge  of  Bactra  in  her  prime,  our  only  resource 
is  to  recall  what  remained  at  Samarkand,  just  as 
the  age  of  splendor  closed.  Thus  Clavijo  described 
a  lesser  palace  of  Tamerlane.  "  In  the  centre  of  the 
garden  there  was  a  very  beautiful  house,  built  in  the 
shape  of  a  cross,  and  very  richly  adorned  with  orna- 
ments. In  the  middle  of  it  there  were  three  chambers, 
for  placing  beds  and  carpets  in,  and  the  walls  were 
covered  with  glazed  tiles.  Opposite  the  entrance,  in 
the  largest  of  the  chambers,  there  was  a  silver  gilt 
table,  as  high  as  a  man,  and  three  arms  broad,  on  the 
top  of  which  there  was  a  bed  of  silk  cloths,  embroid- 
ered with  gold  .  .  .  and  here  the  lord  was  seated. 
The  walls  were  hung  with  rose-colored  silk  cloths,  orna- 
mented with  plates  of  silver  gilt,  set  with  emeralds, 
pearls,  and  other  precious  stones,  tastefully  arranged. 
...  In  the  centre  of  the  house,  opposite  the  door, 
there  were  two  gold  tables,  each  standing  on  four  legs, 
and  the  table  and  legs  were  all  in  one.  They  were  each 
five  palmos  long,  and  three  broad ;  and  seven  golden 
phials  stood  upon  them,  two  of  which  were  set  with 
large  pearls,  emeralds,  and  turquoises,  and  each  one 
had  a  ruby  near  the  mouth.  There  were  also  six  round 
golden  cups,  one  of  which  was  set  with  large  round 
clear  pearls,  inside,  and  in  the  centre  of  it  there  was  a 
ruby,  two  fingers  broad,  and  of  a  brilliant  color.  The 
ambassadors  were  invited  to  this  feast  by  the  lord."^ 
Thus  the  prize  for  which  so  much  blood  was  to  be 

'^  Embassy  to  Tim  our,  (j'^.  "^  Ibid.,  136. 


30  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

spilled,  and  the  paths  along  which  that  prize  had  to 
be  sought,  become  visible.  Twelve  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  Asiatics  and  Europeans  began  their 
struggle  for  the  control  of  the  avenues  of  the  eastern 
trade  which  radiated  from  Bactra.  The  Assyrians 
met  defeat  in  Armenia  and  perished.  The  Greeks 
forced  the  Dardanelles  and  opened  the  Euxine.  The 
gold  of  Lydia  drew  commerce  overland  toward  the 
Mzeander,  at  whose  mouth,  near  where  the  caravans 
halted,  the  Greeks  made  their  first  lodgment  on  the 
continent.  From  Miletus,  spreading  north  and  east- 
ward, always  reaching  out  toward  the  sources  of 
supply,  the  Greeks  girdled  the  basin  of  the  Black 
Sea  until  they  held  every  outlet  in  their  hands,  the 
whole  system  of  traffic  converging  on  the  isthmus  of 
Corinth. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  before 
Christ  the  work  appears  to  have  been  completed, 
and  when  the  complex  yet  elastic  mechanism  oper- 
ated, its  shock  proved  resistless.  Forthwith  Nineveh 
and  Babylon,  being  undersold,  languished,  and  by 
650  the  prophet  Nahum  pronounced  his  diatribe: 
"  Woe  to  the  bloody  city  !  Nineveh  is  laid  waste ; 
who  will  bemoan  her  ?  "  In  606  Nineveh  fell,  never 
to  rise  again ;  and  when,  two  hundred  years  later, 
Xenophon  passed  her  crumbling  walls,  her  very  name 
had  been  forgotten.  Babylon  fared  little  better.  In 
538  Belshazzar,  when  feasting,  read  the  handwriting 
on  the  wall ;  that  same  night  he  died ;  and  thence- 
forward the  Persians  ruled  in  Chaldea.  Thus  the 
vitality  of  Mesopotamia  ebbed,  for  the  life-blood  no 
longer  ran  through  the  arteries  which  centred  at  her 
heart.      But  as  the  same  life-blood  which  had  once 


THE  NEW   EMPIRE 


31 


invigorated  Asia  permeated  Greece,  she  blossomed 
like  the  rose,  and  as  no  doom  has  ever  quite  had  the 
terror  of  the  doom  of  Nineveh,  so  no  bloom  has  ever 
equalled  the  flowering  of  Hellas.  Almost  within  a 
generation  the  peninsula  stood  transfigured.  During 
the  Mycenaean  Age,  Greece,  like  other  predatory 
communities,  had  been  subject  to  a  military  caste, 
whose  castles  dominated  the  towns,  —  grim  strong- 
holds Hke  Tiryns,  the  lairs  of  the  pirate  and  the 
slaver.  With  the  opening  of  the  trade  routes  east 
and  west,  the  aspect  of  civilization  changed.  Tra- 
dition has  preserved  the  memory  of  the  so-called 
Doric  invasion ;  but  this  invasion  may  not  improba- 
bly have  been  the  democratic  revolution,  which,  be- 
ginning in  the  north,  swept  gradually  through  the 
Peloponnesus.  Certainly  a  social  upheaval  followed 
upon  the  rise  of  a  trading  class ;  and  as  this  class 
waxed  rich  and  powerful,  the  palace  vanished  from 
the  acropolis,  and  in  its  stead  appeared  the  temple, 
that  exquisite  civic  decoration,  which  transformed 
the  warriors'  donjon  into  the  public  pleasure-ground. 
As  usual,  in  Greece  as  elsewhere,  architecture,  for 
him  who  will  read  the  language  of  the  stones,  tells 
the  tale  of  civilization  more  eloquently  than  any  writ- 
ten book.  When  thus  read,  among  all  the  stones  of 
Greece,  none  speak  more  movingly  than  those  noble 
columns  which  still  stand  upon  the  shore  of  the  Gulf 
of  Corinth.  On  either  side  of  the  isthmus,  .^gina 
and  Corinth  were  the  two  ports  where  ships  dis- 
charged their  freight,  and  these  two  towns  were 
accordingly  the  first  in  Hellas  to  feel  the  exhilaration 
of  success.  Therefore,  at  ^Egina  and  Corinth  the 
oldest  temples  still  stand  to  reveal  to  us  the  secret 


32  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

of  their  birth.  Long  before  Athens  dreamed  of  su- 
premacy at  sea,  Corinth  had  achieved  maritime  great- 
ness, and  the  Corinthians  furnished  the  Athenians 
with  the  ships  to  destroy  their  enemy  .^gina,  an 
enemy  whom  Corinth  afterward  would  gladly  have 
resuscitated.  Originally,  doubtless,  Uke  Mycenae, 
Corinth  had  a  king  who  lived  in  a  castle  perched 
upon  the  mountain  which  overhangs  the  bay.  Cer- 
tainly a  castle  stood  there  for  ages  after  classic  Corinth 
died,  and  probably  ruins  of  the  archaic  fortress  would 
be  found  embedded  amidst  the  walls  of  the  mediaeval 
keep,  could  the  Acro-Corinth  be  excavated.  Were 
those  remains  found,  what  must  now  be  presented  as 
an  historical  theory  would  be  demonstrated  as  a  fact. 
The  first  effect  of  the  democratic  revolution  at 
Corinth  must  have  been  to  bring  down  the  popula- 
tion from  the  mountain  to  the  shore,  then  the  castle 
crumbled,  and  in  its  stead  arose  those  monolithic 
columns,  which  remain  one  of  the  most  impressive 
memorials  in  the  world.  For,  from  the  building  of 
that  temple  we  must  date  the  birth  of  the  civilization 
we  now  behold  about  us,  and  with  the  building  of 
that  temple  opened  the  struggle  for  survival  of 
Babylon,  Tyre,  and  Carthage,  with  Greece  and  Rome, 
which  only  ended  with  the  victory  of  Alexander  over 
Darius,  and  of  Scipio  over  Hannibal. 

When  the  temple  of  Corinth  arose,  Mesopotamia 
was  already  sinking,  and  Darius,  when  he  succeeded 
Belshazzar,  could  no  more  withstand  his  destiny  than 
a  log  can  withstand  the  torrent  of  the  Mississippi. 
When  two  economic  systems  compete,  they  are  apt 
either  to  consolidate  or  to  fight ;  and  between  Greece 
and  Asia  commercial  rivalry  had  reached  an  inten- 


I.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  33 

sity  which  engenders  war.  The  convulsion  which 
was  to  last  two  centuries  began,  in  546,  b.c.  with  the 
attack  of  Cyrus  on  Lydia  and  the  defeat  of  Croesus. 
The  Persians  succeeded  where  the  Assyrians  failed, 
and  absorbed  Asia  Minor.  Then  Darius  invaded 
Russia,  an  expedition  only  to  be  accounted  for  on 
the  theory  that  he  intended  to  cut  off  the  Greek 
cities  on  the  northern  coast  of  the  Euxine  from  the 
interior.  To  accomplish  this,  he  perhaps  attempted 
to  occupy  the  narrow  neck  of  land  between  the 
Volga  and  the  Don,^  for  by  ascending  the  Volga  and 
descending  the  Don,  commerce  passed  from  the  Cas- 
pian to  the  Sea  of  Azov.  From  this  source  Pantica- 
paeum,  the  chief  of  these  northern  cities,  drew  her 
wealth. 

Defeated  in  Scythia,  Darius  invaded  Greece.  In 
505  B.C.  he  overran  Imbros  and  Lemnos,  captured 
Chalcedon,  and  occupied  both  shores  of  the  Bos- 
phorus.  Then  the  Ionian  cities  revolted,  and  Mile- 
tus was  sacked.  In  490  e.g.  Darius  pushed  forward 
a  reconnaissance  to  Marathon,  and  met  with  a  re- 
verse. Appreciating  the  gravity  of  the  crisis,  he  with- 
drew, and  began  those  preparations  which  recall  the 
effort  of  Philip  II.  to  fit  out  the  Armada.  In  the 
midst  of  his  labor  he  died.  His  death,  however, 
altered  nothing.  Herodotus  ascribed  to  Xerxes  only 
the  conviction  of  his  contemporaries,  when  he  made 
him  answer  in  these  words  the  remonstrance  of 
Artabanus  against  the  prosecution  of  his  father's 
enterprise :  — 

"  It  is  not  possible  for  either  party  to  retreat,  but 

^See   the   maps   and  comments    in    The    Geographical  System   of 
Herodotus,  James  Rennell,  i,  133  et  seq. 
D 


34  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

the  alternative  lies  before  us  to  do  or  to  suffer ;  so 
that  all  these  dominions  must  fall  under  the  power 
of  the  Grecians,  or  all  theirs  under  that  of  the 
Persians;  for  there  is  no  medium  in  this  enmity."  ^ 
In  485  B.C.,  when  Xerxes  came  to  the  throne,  the 
Babylonian  economic  system  formed,  as  it  were,  a 
segment  of  the  periphery  of  a  vast  elUpse,  of  which 
the  Greek  markets  at  the  isthmus  of  Corinth  and  at 
Syracuse  were  the  foci.  Along  the  periphery  of  this 
elUpse  were  ranged  many  peoples  inhabiting  the 
region  stretching  from  the  Oxus  to  Gibraltar,  and 
including  Bactra,  the  Punjab,  Persia,  Mesopotamia, 
Phoenicia,  Egypt,  North  Africa,  and  part  of  Spain ; 
practically  the  Saracenic  dominions  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  only  more  extended  toward  the  east.  This 
vast  mass,  though  politically  unconsohdated,  was 
sufficiently  stimulated  by  a  common  danger  to  cast 
itself,  at  a  given  moment,  on  its  foe.  The  Persians 
invaded  Greece  Proper,  the  Carthaginians  attacked 
Sicily,  and  the  battles  of  Salamis  and  Himera  are 
said  to  have  been  fought  upon  the  same  day.  Cer- 
tainly they  formed  parts  of  a  single  campaign,  and 
the  defeat  of  Xerxes  by  Themistocles,  and  of  Hamil- 
car  by  Gelon,  pierced  the  centre  of  the  coalition. 
Then  the  wings  fell  asunder,  and  the  work  of  destroy- 
ing the  vanquished  in  detail  began.  As  between  the 
two  wings,  the  Babylonian  and  Carthaginian,  the 
latter  showed  more  vitality,  for  Carthage  drew  her 
nutriment  from  the  mines  of  Spain,  while  Mesopota- 
mia existed  solely  as  a  centre  of  exchanges.  How 
rapidly  Asia  sank  may  be  measured  by  her  loss  of 
mihtary  energy.     The  Greeks  thought  their  success 

^  Herod,  vii.  11. 


1.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  35 

at  Plataea  in  479  extraordinary,  although  they  ad- 
mitted putting  in  the  field  upward  of  110,000  men,  of 
whom  39,000  were  hoplites,  against  the  300,000  light- 
armed  troops  led  by  Mardonius,  and  the  Greeks  did 
not  underestimate  their  prowess.  Likewise,  the  Per- 
sians were  exhausted  by  a  painful  journey,  and  a 
winter  in  an  inhospitable  land.  Only  eighty  years 
later  Xenophon  marched  with  10,000  mercenaries 
from  Sardis  to  Babylon,  and  from  Babylon  to 
Trapezus. 

During  this  period  of  eighty  years  the  fortunes  of 
Hellas  culminated.  Greece  failed  to  consolidate  at 
this  juncture,  and  expand  vigorously  westward,  partly, 
no  doubt,  because  of  the  Greek  inaptitude  for  politi- 
cal administration,  but  chiefly  because  of  her  physical 
conformation.  The  lines  of  trade  crossed  her  diago- 
nally and  not  longitudinally,  so  that  her  provinces 
had  few  or  no  common  material  interests.  Further- 
more, while  her  commercial  centre  lay  at  the  isthmus 
of  Corinth,  which  was  the  cheapest  point  in  the  basin 
of  the  yEgaeum  for  the  distribution  of  cargoes  bound 
west,  her  industrial  centre  was  situated  at  the  silver 
mines  of  Laurium,  near  Cape  Sunium.  Accordingly, 
the  interests  of  Athens  and  Corinth  were  antago-oiatic, 
as  the  Athenian  commerce  lay  to  the  east  and  the 
Corinthian  to  the  west,  and  formed  two  distinct  and 
competing  commercial  systems. 

Moreover,  Athens  could  not  conquer  Corinth, 
not  only  because  Corinth  occupied  a  strong  position 
on  the  other  side  of  the  isthmus,  almost  unassailable 
by  Athens  either  by  land  or  water,  but  because 
Corinth  served  as  a  rampart  to  Sparta;  and  Sparta 
could  not  let  her  be  destroyed  for  fear  of  disaster  to 


36  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

herself.  Therefore,  two  irreconcilable  economic  sys- 
tems overthrew  each  other.  Athens  impinged  on 
Corinth ;  and  Corinth,  retaliating,  allied  herself  with 
Sparta.  The  Peloponnesian  War  ensued  as  a  logical 
effect,  and  the  expedition  against  Syracuse  formed 
an  episode  of  the  Peloponnesian  War.  The  loss 
of  the  army  of  Nicias  in  413,  and  the  defeat  of 
yEgospotamus  in  405  B.C.,  together  with  the  gradual 
failure  of  the  silver  of  Laurium,  exhausted  the 
Athenian  vitality,  and  with  the  decline  of  Athens  the 
dream  of  Greek  expansion  toward  the  west  ended. 

But  although  the  vitahty  of  ancient  Hellas  flickered 
low  after  the  Peloponnesian  War,  Macedon  retained 
her  vigor,  largely  because  she  possessed  richer  mines 
than  Attica.  In  356  Philip  annexed  Thrace  up  to 
the  Nestus,  founding  the  city  of  Philippi  in  the  heart 
of  the  region  about  Mount  Pangeus,  where  lay  the 
gold.  This  gold  Philip  worked  so  successfully  that 
he  obtained  a  yearly  revenue  of  1,000  talents,  or  ten- 
fold the  return  of  Laurium  to  Athens  at  the  time  of 
Salamis  ;  and  before  the  death  of  Alexander  the  total 
yield  had  exceeded  30,000  talents.  Fortified  with 
this  treasure,  Alexander  invaded  Asia.  Alexander  is, 
perhaps,  the  highest  specimen  of  the  Greek  intellect, 
astonishing  alike  in  its  strength  and  weakness.  Un- 
rivalled as  an  economic  conception,  his  empire  failed 
as  an  administrative  mechanism.  In  approaching  his 
task  he  showed  a  profound  knowledge  and  apprecia- 
tion of  the  geographical  conditions  which  governed 
the  relations  between  Asia  and  Europe,  but  in  execu- 
tion his  structure,  like  all  efforts  of  classic  Greeks  at 
centralization,  lacked  cohesion. 

Of  the  five  avenues  in   use  at  Alexander's  birth, 


1  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  37 

between  central  Asia  and  the  Mediterranean,  Persia 
controlled  all  but  the  Euxine,  for  the  ocean  voyage 
to  Egypt  had  not  been  attempted.  All  of  these 
Alexander  undertook  to  concentrate  in  a  single 
system,  and,  besides,  to  open  direct  communication 
between  India  and  the  Nile  by  sea.  1 

Starting  from  his  base  upon  the  Hellespont 
Alexander's  first  task  was  to  isolate  Persia  by 
crushing  Phoenicia,  the  ancient  maritime  rival  of 
Greece,  who  had  made  Persia  formidable  at  Salamis 
by  furnishing  her  with  ships.  This  he  accompHshed, 
after  defeating  Darius  at  Issus,  by  the  siege  and 
capture  of  Tyre,  possibly  the  most  extraordinary  feat 
in  his  extraordinary  career.  After  subjugating 
Phoenicia  he  proceeded  to  the  Nile,  examined  the 
delta,  and  selected  Alexandria  as  the  best  outlet 
for  the  southern  water-route  which  he  contem- 
plated. The  experience  of  two  thousand  years  has 
justified  his  judgment.  This  done,  he  turned  toward 
the  interior.  His  problem  was  to  consolidate  the 
avenues  of  communication;  to  do  so  he  marched  en- 
tirely round  the  vast  triangle  in  central  Asia  whose 
base  is  formed  by  a  line  drawn  from  Bactra  to 
Pattala  and  whose  apex  lies  at  Babylon.  Crossing 
the  Euphrates  at  Thapsacus,  he  moved  on  Nineveh  by 
Haran,  over  the  ground  which  had  been  disputed  for 
centuries  by  the  Assyrians ;  and  having  defeated 
Darius  at  Arbela,  he  advanced  south  as  far  as 
Persepolis.  Thence  turning  north,  he  marched  by 
Ecbatana  on  Ragae,  finally  reaching  Samarkand. 
He  passed  the  winter  of  328  at  Bactra,  and,  in  the 
spring,  ventured  to  invade  India  by  the  series  of 
passes  which  begin  with  Bamian  and  end  with  the 


38  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

Khyber,  following  the  road  by  Kabul,  even  yet 
imperfectly  known  to  Europeans.  Incredible  as  it 
seems,  he  gained  the  Indus  with  small  loss,  and, 
having  vanquished  Porus  on  the  Hydaspes,  pacified 
the  Punjab,  and  in  326  B.C.  descended  the  river  to 
the  delta.  There  dividing  his  force,  he  sent  Nearchus 
to  explore  the  Arabian  Sea,  while  he  proceeded  to 
Babylon  by  way  of  Susa.  He  established  police  by 
building  cities  at  strategic  points  along  the  roads, 
sometimes  but  a  day's  journey  from  each  other. 

Nothing  can  be  more  fatuous  than  to  regard  the  cam- 
paigns of  soldiers  like  Alexander,  Caesar,  or  Jenghiz 
Khan  as  the  result  of  ambition  or  caprice ;  for  the 
soldier  is  a  natural  force,  like  the  flood  or  the  whirlwind. 
He  breaks  down  obstructions  otherwise  insuperable. 
Alexander's  battles  were  but  an  incident  in  a  process 
which  only  ended  with  Actium.  His  function  was 
to  centralize ;  and  that  he  understood  his  destiny 
is  clear  from  his  answer  to  the  embassy  sent  him 
by  Darius  during  the  siege  of  Tyre :  "  As  it  would 
be  impossible  for  order  to  reign  in  the  world  with 
two  suns,  so  it  is  impossible  for  the  earth  to  be 
at  peace  with  two  masters. " 

Alexander  dealt  with  converging  economic  systems 
which,  because  they  converged,  could  be  consoHdated. 
As  usual  under  such  circumstances,  social  amalgama- 
tion preceded  political  unification,  and  a  fusion  of 
commercial  interests  laid  the  basis  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  This  is  proved  by  the  voluntary  reform  of 
the  coinage  under  Alexander,  as  well  as  by  the  spread 
of  the  Greek  language  throughout  the  Levant. 

Among  the  many  debts  which  civilization  owes 
the   Greeks,  none   is  deeper  than  that   due   for  the 


I.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  39 

invention  of  the  coinage ;  for  whether  money  was 
first  struck  in  Lydia  or  /Egina,  the  conception  of  a 
currency  is  Greek  and  not  Asiatic.  Indeed,  the 
Asiatic  races  never  accepted  the  coinage  kindly,  for 
the  Asiatics  have  always  been  slow ;  and  perhaps  the 
introduction  of  a  currency  accelerated  social  move- 
ment more  powerfully  than  any  innovation  during  the 
historic  period  of  antiquity.  By  a  currency  com- 
mercial transfers  are  made  cheap  and  rapid,  and  inter- 
national banking  on  a  large  scale  becomes  possible. 
To  work  well,  however,  the  currency  should  be  uni- 
form, as  the  fluctuations  of  various  standards  entail 
loss  in  exchange.  Under  the  archaic  system  each  city 
struck  its  own  money,  —  the  disadvantage  whereof 
the  Greeks  soon  perceived ;  and  one  of  the  greatest 
triumphs  of  the  Greek  mind  was  the  adoption  of  a 
common  standard  of  value  under  Alexander ;  an 
achievement  to  be  attributed  to  r^la-ntary  and  in- 
telligent cooperation,  and  not  to  physical  force.    ^ 

Throughout  Alexander's  nominal  dominions,  many 
of  the  most  opulent  cities  retained  their  privileges, 
the  coinage  among  the  rest ;  especially  in  Thrace, 
Asia  Minor,  and  Phoenicia.  These  cities  struck  the 
imperial  tetradrachma,  by  their  own  authority,  and 
for  their  own  convenience,  and  maintained  the 
standard  long  after  Alexander's  death. ^  Modern 
Europe  has  not  yet  done  as  much. 

Under  the  conditions  which  prevailed  in  ancient 
times,  expansion  ended  with  the  establishment  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  with  the  termination  of  expansion 
an  equilibrium  betu^een  the  East  and  West  could  not 
be  long  maintained.     The  reason    is    obvious.     The 

'^  Numismatique  d' Alexandre  le  Grand,  L.  Muller,  91. 


40  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

Romans,  though  great  soldiers  and  administrators, 
were  uninventive.  They  never  learned  to  manufacture 
any  article  which  commanded  the  Oriental  market 
and  served  as  a  means  of  balancing  their  purchases. 
Neither  did  they  explore,  or  improve  their  ships. 
Therefore  the  Mediterranean  remained  always,  for 
them,  a  closed  ellipse,  not  rich  enough  in  metal  to 
sustain  a  prolonged  drain,  especially  under  the  waste- 
ful Roman  methods.  This  ellipse,  divided  into  three 
basins  by  the  peninsulas  of  Greece  and  Italy,  varied 
in  resources,  the  central  basin  being  poor.  Develop- 
ment, accordingly,  began  at  the  extreme  east,  probably 
first  in  Cyprus  and  afterward  in  Lydia,  and  for  many 
centuries  remained  in  the  hands  of  Asiatics.  At 
length  the  Greeks  began  to  compete,  and,  settling 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Masander,  they  gradually  con- 
centrated transportation  in  their  hands. 

If  a  line  be  drawn  north  and  south  through  Miletus, 
it  bisects  the  ancient  civilization  according  to  its  apti- 
tudes. To  the  east  of  that  line  lay  the  lands  which 
led  in  agriculture  and  industries ;  to  the  west, 
those  producing  minerals  and  soldiers.  Egypt,  for 
example,  grew  grain  at  a  profit,  at  prices  which  ex- 
terminated the  Italian  farmers;  Egypt,  Phoenicia, 
India,  and  China  readily  undersold  Europe  in  manu- 
factures ;  while  spices,  gems,  and  perfumes  were  a 
natural  monopoly  of  Arabia,  India,  and  Ceylon. 
These  commodities  were  coveted  by  Greeks  and 
Romans  ;  but  Greeks  and  Romans  could  offer  nothing 
in  exchange  which  Orientals  would  accept,  save  met- 
als, and  consequently  metals  flowed  eastward ;  a  fact 
proved  by  the  abundance  of  Athenian  coins  found  in 
Asia,  as  well  as  by  the  statements  of  Phny. 


I.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  4 1 

Under  such  conditions  the  basin  of  the  ^gaeum 
became  the  seat  of  empire,  because  it  not  only  afforded, 
for  several  centuries,  the  most  convenient  market  for 
merchandise  consigned  westward,  but  it  furnished 
metals  for  exchange  and  soldiers  for  pohce. 

Copper  came  from  Cyprus,  close  at  hand ;  iron 
from  the  Euxine,  from  Bithynia,  Pontus,  and  the 
Caucasus.  The  Urals,  then  as  now,  were  rich  in 
minerals,  and  every  Greek  city  east  of  the  Azov  sent 
caravans  into  the  interior  to  buy.^  Herodotus  stated 
that  for  such  an  expedition  ten  interpreters  were 
needed.  More  important  still,  the  whole  coast  of  the 
iEgaeum  teemed  with  gold  and  silver.  Lydia  yielded 
gold  and  electrum,  Attica  silver,  and  Macedon  gold. 
Therefore,  commerce  tended  to  discharge  through 
the  Dardanelles  in  a  stream  which,  passing  over  the 
isthmus  of  Corinth,  flowed  west  by  Sicily  toward 
north  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain. 

These  conditions  lasted  until  the  demand  on  the 
resources  of  the  country  became  too  great  to  be  sup- 
phed  by  the  mines  of  so  limited  a  region,  and  recourse 
was  had  to  Spain. 

Then,  as  mineral  production  moved  westward,  the 
central  market  moved  to  correspond.  Conceivably, 
it  might  have  grown  up  at  almost  any  point  in  the 
middle  basin ;  at  Carthage,  at  Syracuse,  or  at  Rome. 
Rome  probably  prevailed,  not  only  because  of  the 
superior  mihtary  quality  of  her  people,  but  because 
of  the  relatively  large  territory  tributary  to  her;  a 
territory  which  even  then  may  have  extended  to  the 
North  Sea.  The  bronzes  found  along  the  roads  in- 
dicate an  extensive  trade.     Yet  wherever  the  central 

^  Die  Geschichte  des  Eisens,  Beck,  I.,  275,  6. 


42  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

market  might  have  been,  there  could  have  been 
but  one,  for  the  Hnes  of  transportation  converged 
at  a  single  point  in  Spain,  and  Spain  could  not  have 
remained  under  a  divided  ownership.  The  cost  would 
have  been  too  great.  One  rival  or  the  other  must 
have  perished.  Even  the  burden  of  one  empire 
proved  too  heavy  to  be  borne.  It  had  hardly  come 
into  being  before  decay  began. 

A  single  administrative  system,  with  a  machinery 
complex  enough  to  poHce  roads,  administer  justice, 
and  unify  the  coinage,  is  an  economy  provided  the 
revenue  to  be  administered  is  commensurate  with  the 
charges  of  administration.  But  the  expense  of  cen- 
tralized administration,  always  great,  in  ancient  times 
was  crushing  because  of  the  narrowness  of  commercial 
exchanges.  The  resources  of  the  East  were  exhaust- 
less,  those  of  the  West  limited  because  of  industrial 
incapacity  and  the  failure  to  expand  beyond  the 
Rhine  in  search  of  metal.  Had  rivalry  in  Spain 
necessitated  a  double  political  organization,  the  decay 
of  the  West  would  have  been  almost  immediate, 
possibly  as  rapid  as  the  collapse  of  Alexander's  em- 
pire. 

In  fact,  the  Romans  expelled  the  Carthaginians 
from  the  Iberian  peninsula  in  207  b.c,  and  thence- 
forward hardly  met  with  serious  resistance,  because 
they  alone  had  the  means  of  organizing  a  competent 
army.  Then  Rome  gradually  culminated.  She  ap- 
pears to  have  reached  her  meridian  before  she  had 
spent  all  the  plunder  brought  from  Gaul  by  Caesar,  or 
near  the  opening  of  the  Christian  era.  The  precise 
date  is  immaterial,  for  the  period  of  equilibrium  was 
short,  and  the  decline,  once   begun,  rapid.     In   the 


I.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  43 

year  9,  after  the  defeat  of  Varus,  Augustus  could  not 
replace  the  army  the  Germans  had  destroyed ;  and 
under  Trajan,  toward  100,  an  agricultural  crisis  pre- 
vailed, which  lasted  until  the  end.  A  century  later 
silver  had  grown  so  scarce  that  the  currency  could 
not  be  sustained,  and  toward  220  a.d.  the  government 
of  Elagabalus  repudiated.  In  284  a.d.  Diocletian 
withdrew  the  capital  to  the  shore  of  the  Propontis, 
and  Rome  ceased  to  be  a  general  market. 

The  dominant  market  receded,  precisely  as  it  had 
advanced,  in  the  waV  ,e  of>  commercial  exchanges; 
and  commercial  exchanges  ceased  to  be  possible,  on 
a  large  scale,  in  the  Mediterranean  countries  after 
the  mines  had  failed.  When  no  income  remained 
to  be  administered,  the  machinery  of  administration 
passed  out  of  existence.  There  was  no  barbarian 
conquest.  There  was  a  resolution  of  an  economic 
consolidation  into  its  elements. 

Lastly,  as  the  cohesive  energy  waned  and  the  prov- 
inces fell  asunder,  the  archaic  conditions  revived. 
Competition  reopened,  and  three  empires  once  more 
appeared  upon  the  three  main  highways  leading  from 
east  to  west.  One  rose  on  the  Tigris,  one  on  the 
Bosphorus,  and  one  on  the  Nile,  and  amidst  the  wars 
between  the  Persians,  the  Byzantines,  and  the  Sara- 
cens the  Middle  Ages  dawned. 


CHAPTER   II 

The  Western  Empire  died  because  the  predomi- 
nant race  in  the  basin  of  the  Mediterranean  failed, 
after  the  opening  of  the  Christian  era,  to  develop  the 
qualities  necessary  for  survival  under  the  conditions 
which  then  prevailed.  /|>eV*.'i  Jggle  for  supremacy, 
among  the  Phoenicians,  ti-o  Gi^eeks,  and  the  Romans, 
had  lasted  for  upward  of  one  thousand  years.  The 
Phoenicians  had  succumbed  rather  early  in  the  con. 
flict;  the  Greeks,  though  highly  gifted  in  many  direc- 
tions, lacked  the  administrative  energy  which  alone 
creates  social  cohesion;  while  the  Latins,  excelling 
as  administrators  and  soldiers,  were  intellectually 
inflexible. 

This  rigidity  wrought  their  destruction.  Although, 
soon  after  their  career  of  plunder  closed,  it  became 
evident  that  nothing  but  expansion  and  industries 
could  save  them  from  annihilation,  the  Latins  made 
no  serious  effort.  On  the  contrary,  when  their 
armies  met  with  a  decisive  check  in  Germany,  they 
resigned  themselves  to  starvation,  without  relaxing 
their  contemptuous  intolerance  of  the  arts  as  a  means 
of  subsistence  for  freemen.  As  explorers  they  did 
little  more  than  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  their  prede- 
cessors ;  and  though  they  worked  the  Spanish  ores 
for  six  hundred  years,  it  is  doubtful  whether  they 
ever  improved  the  methods  bequeathed  them  by  the 
Carthaginians. 

44 


CHAP.  II.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  45 

There  could  have  been  no  reason,  save  incompe- 
tence, why  England  should  not  have  yielded  wool  as 
fine  under  the  Cassars  as  under  the  Carlovingians  ; 
the  Gauls  wove  good  cloths,  although  no  one  put 
them  on  the  eastern  market.  PHny,  and  the  men  of 
his  generation,  knew  and  lamented  the  drain  of  metal 
to  the  East,  and  yet  no  one  could  suggest  a  com- 
modity wherewith  to  make  exchange.  A  civilization 
thus  wasteful  fell,  a  race  thus  incapable  perished, 
and  Nature  addressed  herself  to  developing  a  new 
type.  In  about  six  centuries  she  achieved  her  task ; 
but,  as  the  mediaeval  mind  was  moulded  by  the 
conditions  which  created  it,  a  glance  at  European 
geography  should  precede  a  survey  of  European 
history. 

Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  very  small  streams 
were  used  for  transportation,  because  of  the  cost 
of  land  carriage ;  therefore  the  flow  of  the  rivers 
determined  the  lines  of  travel  and  the  shape  of 
empires. 

In  reality  Europe  and  Asia  form  but  a  single  conti- 
nent, Europe  being  a  long,  narrow,  and  indented 
peninsula,  thrust  out  from  the  vast  mass  of  Asia. 
The  almost  imperceptible  rise  of  the  Urals  can 
hardly  be  considered  a  scientific  boundary,  but, 
assuming  that  Europe  stretches  eastward  as  far  as 
the  modem  maps  indicate,  the  core  of  the  continent 
will  be  found  to  be  divided  into  three  transverse  sec- 
tions by  waterways  which  do  not  converge. 

First,  a  network  of  rivers  connects  the  Caspian  and 
Black  Seas  with  the  Arctic  Ocean  and  the  Baltic. 
The  same  rivers,  with  their  lateral  branches,  may  be 
navigated  almost  as  conveniently  east  and  west,  and 


46  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

taken  thus  they  unite  the  Urals  with  the  Gulf  of 
Finland.     This  region  is  Russia. 

Second,  from  the  mountains  which  form  the  back- 
bone of  Europe,  four  streams  flow  north  into  the 
Baltic  and  the  North  Sea;  the  Oder,  the  Elbe,  the 
Weser,  and  the  Rhine.  As  the  valleys  of  these 
rivers  are  nearly  parallel,  the  inhabitants  during  the 
Middle  Ages  had  no  very  intimate  relations  with  each 
other  because  relatively  little  commerce  passed  from 
valley  to  valley.  Consequently  Germany  did  not 
centralize  before  the  invention  of  the  locomotive. 

Lastly,  at  the  end  of  the  peninsula,  the  Seine,  the 
Rhone  and  Saone,  and  the  Loire,  emptying  into  the 
English  Channel,  the  Gulf  of  Lyons,  and  the  Atlantic, 
converge  toward  their  sources.  Therefore  France 
early  consolidated. 

Spain  and  England  lay  isolated,  and,  for  present 
purposes,  may  be  ignored.  It  suffices  to  observe,  that 
neither  Spain,  England,  nor  Italy  were  so  situated 
that  amalgamation  was  possible,  either  among  them- 
selves, or  with  the  economic  systems  of  the  rest  of 
the  continent. 

Scientifically  speaking,  with  the  Vistula  begins 
the  isthmus  which  connects  Europe  with  Asia.  This 
isthmus  comprises  the  region  between  the  rivers 
which  join  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Baltic;  that  is  to 
say,  the  region  between  the  Danube,  south  and  east 
of  Buda,  and  the  Vistula,  or  the  Dniester  and  the 
Vistula,  on  the  west,  and  the  Dnieper,  the  Lovat,  the 
Volkhoff,  Lake  Ladoga,  and  the  Neva,  on  the  east. 
This  isthmus,  shaped  somewhat  like  a  triangle,  has 
its  apex  on  the  Black  Sea  between  Odessa  and  Kher- 
son, with  a  base  extending  from  Dantzic  to  Peters- 


11.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  47 

burg.  It  contained,  if  the  Dniester  be  taken  as  the 
western  boundary,  Poland,  Lithuania,  the  possessions 
of  the  Teutonic  knights,  and  Novgorod,  to  which 
must  be  added  Hungary,  as  far  as  Pesth,  if  that 
boundary  be  extended  to  the  Danube. 

To  the  east  of  the  Dnieper  and  the  Lovat  stretched 
the  wastes  of  Russia,  closed  to  the  north,  and 
traversed  by  the  network  of  rivers  which,  emptying 
into  the  Azov,  the  Caspian,  or  the  Arctic,  may  be 
navigated  almost  without  interruption  as  far  east  as 
Lake  Baikal.  Russia,  therefore,  between  the  Volga 
and  the  Vistula,  but  more  especially  between  the 
Dnieper  and  the  Vistula,  may  be  regarded  as  a  debat- 
able land  sometimes  adhering  to  Europe  and  some- 
times to  Asia. 

Men  expressly  evolved  to  replace  others  who 
have  perished  through  incompetence  usually  display 
strength  where  their  predecessors  have  been  weak, 
and  so  it  proved  in  the  Middle  Ages.  No  modern 
nation  like  the  Latins  has  won  supremacy  purely  by 
arms ;  modern  success  has  been  achieved  rather 
by  technical  ingenuity,  genius  for  exploration,  and 
mental  flexibility. 

These  characteristics  appeared  at  the  outset.  The 
mediaeval  city  grew  from  the  guild,  and  the  first  efforts 
to  accumulate  capital  took  the  shape  of  manufactur- 
ing for  export.  Long  before  the  discovery  of  the 
German  mines  Flemings  wove  the  English  wool,  and 
Flemish  cloths  sold  in  Bagdad.  Charlemagne  adver- 
tised them  throughout  central  Asia  by  sending  them 
as  gifts  to  Haroun-al-Rashid.  He  did  nothing  for 
other  manufactures.  He  chose  horses  and  dogs  for 
the  remainder  of  his  presents. 


48  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

The  probability  is  that  most  of  the  revenue  which 
Charlemagne  relied  on  to  support  his  administration 
came  from  the  woollen  trade,  and  that  the  industry 
could  not  bear  the  taxation  is  demonstrated  by  the 
collapse  of  the  empire.  The  raw  material,  grown 
in  England,  crossed  the  Channel  to  Bruges,  and  the 
manufactured  product  either  passed  up  the  Scheldt 
and  through  Champagne  to  the  Rhone,  or  else 
reached  Cologne  by  land  and  Mayence  by  the  Rhine. 
At  Mayence  the  Flemings  established  their  chief  sell- 
ing agency,  and  sent  their  goods  into  Italy,  either  up 
the  Rhine  to  Basel  and  Lausanne,  and  over  the  Great 
St.  Bernard  to  Genoa  or  Milan;  or  else  by  Con- 
stance, Coire,  and  the  Septimer.  Little  or  nothing 
went  by  Ratisbon  before  the  crusades,  as  the  Huns 
closed  the  Danube.^  The  line  of  the  imperial  custom- 
houses ran  through  Magdeburg,  Erfurt,  Hallstadt, 
Forchheim,  Pfreimt,  Ratisbon,  and  Lorch.  The  heart 
of  the  organism  lay  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  about  mid- 
way between  the  French  and  the  Rhenish  waterways. 
It  could  hardly  have  done  so  had  not  the  Flemish 
industries  been  the  chief  source  of  wealth,  and  the 
Rhine  and  the  Meuse  the  chief  arteries  of  commerce. 

The  vices  of  such  a  consolidation  speak  for  them- 
selves. In  the  first  place,  the  length  of  road  to 
be  guarded  was  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  traffic. 
In  the  second,  as  the  lines  of  communication  diverged, 
centralized  defence  was  impossible.  Each  province 
needed  its  own  army,  for  all  were  exposed.  The 
Elbe  could  not  be  fortified,  and  yet  beyond  the  Elbe 
roved  the  Huns,  the  Wends,  and  other  ferocious 
Slavs,  while,  to  the  north,  Scandinavia  poured  forth 

1  Histoire  du  Commerce  du  Levant,  Heyd,  French  translation,  I.,  86. 


n.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  49 

fleets  of  pirates,  who  sailed  up  the  rivers,  robbing  and 
burning  to  the  gates  of  Paris.  Yet  even  the  Vikings 
were  less  alarming  than  the  Saracens,  who  swarmed 
in  the  Mediterranean,  and  penetrated  to  the  heart  of 
the  Alps,  where  they  put  all  commerce  to  ransom. 
Even  as  late  as  970,  during  the  reign  of  Otho  the 
Great,  when  a  relatively  wealthy  government  labored 
to  suppress  marauding,  the  Moslems  attacked  strong 
caravans.  In  that  year  Majolus,  abbot  of  the  famous 
convent  of  Cluny,  had  travelled  to  Italy  over  the 
Septimer,  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  brigands  on  the 
western  passes.  In  haste  to  return,  he  made  the  Great 
St.  Bernard,  and,  in  his  descent  into  France,  had 
reached  the  bridge  of  Orsieres,  when  the  Saracens 
overtook  him  and  carried  him  and  all  his  suite  into 
captivity. 

No  one  understood  the  situation  so  well  as  Char- 
lemagne, who  dealt  with  it,  and  the  monk  of  St. 
Gall  has  described  him  weeping,  on  the  coast  of  the 
English  Channel,  at  the  sight  of  the  Norse  ships. 
He  wept  at  the  thought  of  the  woes  to  fall  upon  his 
posterity,  for  he  knew  that,  with  the  resources  at  hand, 
resistance  would  be  futile. 

Civilization  could  only  receive  an  adequate  impul- 
sion from  the  discovery  of  minerals,  which  would 
balance  exchanges  and  place  production  upon  a  firm 
basis,  and  no  metals  could  be  obtained  until  the  line 
of  the  Elbe  should  be  guarded.  The  core  of  Ger- 
many lies  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe,  for  there 
have  been  found  the  chief  of  the  metals  which  have 
made  her  wealth.  Close  to  the  Elbe,  and  exposed  to 
any  sudden  raid,  stand  the  Harz  Mountains,  in  whose 
midst  rises  the  Rammelsberg,  long  the  richest  silver- 

E 


50  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

bearing  region  of  Europe ;  while  on  the  higher  Elbe, 
just  where  the  river  forces  its  way  through  the  Bohe- 
mian Mountains,  are  the  Erzgebirge,  the  district  of 
which  Freiberg  is  the  capital,  and  which  by  the  twelfth 
century  had  attained  its  highest  relative  importance. 
In  the  silver  and  copper  mines  of  the  Tyrol,  also, 
thirty  thousand  miners  are  said  to  have  found  em- 
ployment at  about  this  period. 

Nobody  knows  precisely  when  the  Rammelsberg 
was  opened.  According  to  the  legend  a  huntsman  of 
Otho  the  Great,  who  had  ridden  a  restive  horse  from 
Harzburg,  noticed  that  the  animal  had  uncovered  a 
vein  of  ore  by  his  pawing.  The  emperor,  afterward 
hearing  of  the  discovery,  became  convinced  of  its 
value,  and  sank  the  first  shaft.  He  then  founded 
Goslar.  The  probability  is  that  the  industry  was 
older,  and  that  it  lent  Henry  the  Fowler  the  energy 
to  garrison  his  frontier.  For  the  mediaeval  city  was 
at  once  a  factory  and  a  garrison.  Every  burgher 
belonged  to  a  guild,  and  yet  every  burgher  was  also, 
by  necessity,  an  excellent  soldier,  at  least  in  all  that 
touched  the  defence  of  his  walls.  The  Harz  formed 
the  heart  of  Henry's  new  kingdom.  He  turned  the 
clump  of  hills  into  a  citadel.  After  he  had  done  so, 
modern  civilization  dawned.  When,  in  912,  Henry  I. 
succeeded  his  father  as  Duke  of  Saxony,  society 
seemed  sinking  into  chaos.  In  924  Henry  fortified 
Quedlinburg,  which  afterward  served  as  his  capital, 
and  fifty  years  later  his  son  died  emperor  of  Ger- 
many, the  greatest  sovereign  of  his  age. 

Goslar,  which  lies  on  the  northern  slope  of  the 
Harz,  and  which  owed  its  consequence  to  the  Ram- 
melsberg mines,  was  certainly  one  of  the  oldest  free 


II.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  5  I 

imperial  cities  of  Germany.  Possibly  it  may  have 
been  nominally  founded  by  Otho ;  but,  if  no  mining 
existed  there  earlier,  it  is  difficult  to  comprehend  his 
father's  policy.  Henry  planted  a  castle  at  Goslar, 
he  built  a  tower  at  Regenstein  in  919,  toward  the  east, 
and  he  constructed  the  stronghold  of  Nordhausen,  on 
the  southwest,  guarding  the  approach  to  the  Rammels- 
berg  along  the  Zorge ;  while  directly  in  the  face  of 
the  Wends  he  planted  his  capital  of  Quedlinburg, 
the  centre  of  his  military  organization,  from  whence 
he  conducted  his  campaigns.  His  policy  was  to 
make  good  the  line  of  the  Elbe  as  far  as  the  Erz- 
gebirge,  and  to  this  end  he  invaded  Bohemia,  and  re- 
duced the  duke  to  a  tributary.  He  also  defeated  the 
Slavs  toward  the  Oder,  and  established  two  for- 
tresses, one  at  Meissen  and  one  higher  up  the  river,  to 
overawe  southern  Saxony.  Before  the  death  of  his 
son,  a  chain  of  cities  from  Luneburg  to  Freiburg  com- 
manded the  frontier,  the  mines  were  regularly  worked, 
the  Elbe  could  be  used  as  a  highway,  and  the  rest  was 
but  a  matter  of  time. 

The  sequence  of  cause  and  effect  is  plain.  When 
virgin  mines  of  precious  metal  began  yielding  plenti- 
fully, Europe  came  into  possession  of  a  portable 
commodity  of  universal  exchangeable  value,  at  a  com- 
paratively low  cost.  Consequently  Europeans  could 
trade  at  a  profit,  and,  as  capital  augmented  and  industry 
gathered  energy,  the  cost  of  policing  the  thorough- 
fares bore  a  regularly  diminishing  ratio  to  the  profit 
earned  by  the  traffic  passing  over  them.  The  process 
was  automatic,  and  can  be  gauged  by  the  growth  of 
the  ports,  and  the  cities  at  the  cross-roads. 

Otho  the  Great  died  in  973,  and  assuming  that  the 


52  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap, 

mines  of  the  Rammelsberg  came  into  full  operation 
during  his  life,  the  stimulus  should  have  been  felt 
within  about  a  generation,  or  toward  looo.  Of  course 
the  movement  would  have  been  most  sensible  at 
Venice,  the  port  of  Germany,  whence  the  streams  of 
commerce  diverged  which  passed  down  both  the  Elbe 
and  the  Rhine.  This  a  priori  theory  corresponds 
with  the  facts. 

Venice  rose  to  the  dignity  of  a  considerable  mari- 
time power  under  Pietro  Orseolo  II.,  in  991.  Orseolo 
not  only  negotiated  commercial  treaties  with  the 
Saracenic  courts  at  Aleppo,  Cairo,  Damascus,  and 
Palermo,  but  he  forced  the  Greek  emperor  to  reduce 
the  tax  on  vessels  passing  Abydos.  In  the  year  1000 
he  defeated  the  Croatian  pirates,  and  thenceforward 
Venice  held  undisputed  control  of  the  Adriatic.  In 
the  tenth  century,  also,  Augsburg,  the  converging 
point  of  the  roads  between  South  Germany  and  Italy, 
first  built  a  wall.  A  low  wall,  it  is  true,  and  without 
towers,  but  strong  enough  to  twice  bid  defiance  to  the 
Huns.  In  1050  occurs  the  earliest  reference  to  Nu- 
remberg, when  the  Emperor  Henry  III.  held  a  diet 
there.  Had  Nuremberg  been  wealthy,  it  would  have 
been  famous  long  before.  About  the  same  period 
Leipsic  came  into  notice,  but  seems  to  have  grown 
rather  slowly,  for  it  was  not  until  11 70  that  the  town 
obtained  her  first  considerable  grant  of  privileges. 

According  to  Beck,^  German  weapons  were  ex- 
ported to  India.  Cologne  was  the  base  of  the  trade 
to  the  west,  as  Lubeck  was  of  the  trade  to  the  east. 
The  commerce  of  the  Rhine  was,  of  course,  always 
more  important  than  the  commerce  of  the  Elbe,  in 

^  Geschichte  des  Eisens,  I.,  745. 


n.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  53 

proportion  as  Flanders  and  England  outweighed 
Sweden  and  Russia ;  Cologne,  accordingly,  developed 
early.  By  1000  a.d.  she  had  her  guild-hall  in  Lon- 
don, which  formed  the  nucleus  to  which  other  German 
cities,  especially  Regensburg  and  Bremen,  adhered. 
From  this  counter  as  a  core  grew  the  German  guild- 
hall, called  the  Steelyard,  in  upper  Thames  Street, 
near  London  Bridge,  which  long  continued  one  of 
the  most  powerful  of  the  London  corporations.^ 
The  Hanse  merchants  for  several  centuries  almost 
monopolized  the  canying  trade  of  the  kingdom,  be- 
sides being  very  influential  bankers.  Before  1016 
the  emperor's  subjects  had  secured  the  rights  of 
Englishmen  in  the  courts.  About  1040  the  English 
wool  trade  raised  Bruges  to  the  rank  of  a  universal 
market,  and  weaving  spread  over  the  north  of  France, 
St.  Quentin  acquiring  a  charter  near  1089.  Equal 
activity  reigned  in  the  Baltic.  Although  the  Germans 
did  not  obtain  undisputed  control  of  the  lower  Elbe 
until  after  the  founding  of  Liibeck  in  1 143,  and  possi- 
bly even  of  New  Hamburg  in  11 89,  commerce  flowed 
through  such  Slavish  ports  as  Jumne  on  the  Oder 
and  Dantzic  on  the  Vistula.  Written  records  fail,  but 
the  quantity  of  coins  found  buried  in  Sweden,  and 
more  particularly  at  Wisby  in  the  Island  of  Gotland, 
prove  the  diffusion  of  the  new  silver.  Not  less  than 
ten  thousand  German  coins  have  been  found  in  these 
regions,  belonging  to  the  centur}''  and  a  half  which 
followed  the  opening  of  the  Rammelsberg  mines, 
those  of  the  reign  of  Otho  IIL,  from  983  to  looi, 
predominating.^ 

1  Die  Geschichte  des  Eisens,  Beck,  I.,  745,  746. 

2  Die  Hensestddteuitd KonigWaldemar  von  Dantmark,  Schafer,  39. 


54  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

An  energetic  social  movement  is  usually  equivalent 
to  expansion ;  and  as  the  Atlantic  barred  migration 
westward,  Europeans  invaded  Asia,  both  by  way  of 
the  Mediterranean  and  the  Baltic.  The  age  being  one 
of  faith,  the  movement  took  a  religious  shape,  begin- 
ning with  the  Council  of  Clermont  in  1095,  and  last- 
ing upward  of  two  centuries.  As  a  civilizing  agent, 
the  importance  of  the  crusades  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated ;  since,  though  the  Franks  finally  met  with  de- 
feat, the  war  proved  a  powerful  intellectual  stimulant, 
and  also  exceedingly  profitable. 

The  Saracens  had  advanced  farther  in  the  arts 
than  the  Latin  Christians,  and  served  as  schoolmas- 
ters, besides  learning  to  be  excellent  customers.  The 
wealth  of  Egypt  threw  upon  her  the  chief  burden  of 
the  Prankish  wars,  but  Egypt  produced  neither  iron, 
nor  timber  for  ships,  nor  a  martial  population,  and  she 
had  to  buy  all  this  material  from  her  enemies.  The 
caliphs  lowered  their  tariffs,  making  special  rates 
for  Christians ;  and,  though  the  avarice  which 
tempted  the  Venetians  and  the  Genoese  to  succor 
their  enemies  roused  the  scorn  of  Moslems,  they  nev- 
ertheless recruited  their  Mamelukes  with  Christian 
slaves,  armed  them  with  swords  forged  by  Italians 
and  Germans,  and  built  their  navies  with  Dalmatian 
timber, 

Germany  served  as  Egypt's  base  of  supplies. 
At  Venice  the  Germans  estabhshed  their  southern 
counting-house,  corresponding  to  the  Steelyard  in 
London,  and  called  the  Fondaco  dei  Tedeschi.  In 
the  magazines  of  the  Fondaco  the  merchants  of 
Nuremberg,  Augsburg,  Ulm,  Constance,  and  Vienna 
stored  their  wares,  consisting  largely  of  iron,  copper. 


II.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  55 

and  woollens  for  export ;  and  spices,  silks,  carpets, 
and  the  like  for  import.  In  the  courts  were  loaded 
caravans  for  the  Brenner  or  the  St.  Gotthard.  The 
industries  of  southern  Germany  and  Italy  flourished. 
The  fame  of  Nuremberg  as  a  manufacturing 
town  spread  far  and  wide.  Her  smiths  had  no 
superiors  north  of  the  Alps.  They  forged  not  only 
weapons  but  peaceful  implements,  and  through  the 
technical  skill  of  her  metal  workers  Nuremberg 
made  her  chief  contribution  to  civilization.  Yet  Nu- 
remberg yielded  to  Milan  in  industries,  and,  during 
the  first  crusade,  no  soldier  thought  himself  perfectly 
equipped  without  a  Milanese  sword  and  armor. 

Although  this  estimate  of  the  effects  which  followed 
the  working  of  the  Harz  and  Saxon  mines  may  seem 
exaggerated,  the  evidence  is  overwhelming  that,  down 
to  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages,  minerals  lay  not  only 
at  the  base  of  the  German  industrial  system,  but  at 
the  root  of  German  wealth.  In  the  last  quarter  of 
the  fifteenth  century  the  capitalists  of  southern  Ger- 
many outranked  even  the  Italian,  and  in  Augsburg 
and  Nuremberg  all  men  of  enterprise  speculated  in 
mines.  The  famous  patrician  house  of  Welser  owned 
shares  in  the  silver  works  at  Schneeberg,  near  the  Bo- 
hemian frontier;  the  Nuremberg  famihes  of  Fiihrer  and 
Schliisselfelder  carried  on  the  copper  works  of  Eisle- 
ben,  between  Halle  and  Nordhausen,  and,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  these,  a  refining  estabhshment  near  Arn- 
stedt  in  Thuringia ;  Peter  Rummel  held  silver  mines 
in  Tyrol,  Lucas  Semler,  smelters  in  Silesia.  In  1482 
George  Holzschuher  and  Ulrich  Erkel  of  Nuremberg 
obtained  the  monopoly  of  supplying  Bern  with  the 
silver  for  coinage,  while  Holzschuher  managed  the 


56  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

mint.^  The  list  might  be  prolonged,  but  to  little  pur- 
pose, for  these  names,  though  once  noted,  have  been 
forgotten.  One  family  of  Augsburg  bankers  is,  how- 
ever, still  remembered  ;  and,  to  prove  the  part  played 
by  metals  in  finance  down  to  the  Reformation,  it  is 
only  needful  to  tell  the  story  of  the  Fuggers.  To 
do  them  justice  requires  a  review  of  above  two 
hundred  years.  Old  Hans  Fugger,  the  first  known 
of  the  race,  being  a  journeyman  weaver,  left  his  vil- 
lage of  Graben,  in  1367,  to  seek  his  fortune  in 
Augsburg.  By  thrift  and  diligence  he  advanced  in 
the  world,  and  died,  in  1409,  worth  3000  florins. 
None  of  his  sons  particularly  distinguished  them- 
selves. Andrew,  at  one  time  the  most  prosperous, 
left  descendants  who  became  bankrupt.  The  founder 
of  the  renowned  house  was  Jacob  Fugger  II.,  the 
grandson  of  Hans,  and  it  was  probably  through  the 
maternal  grandfather  of  Jacob  the  younger,  who 
settled  in  the  Tyrolese  mining  district,  that  the  oppor- 
tunity came  which  led  to  fortune. 

Jacob  II.  went  into  business  in  1473,  when  fourteen 
years  old,  and  learned  his  trade  in  the  Fondaco  dei 
Tedeschi  in  Venice.  For  some  time  he  and  his 
brothers  dealt  in  the  old  way,  in  silks  and  woollens 
and  spices,  but  presently  Jacob  entered  on  the 
"more  profitable  business  of  exchange  and  mining." ^ 
Mines  were  then  mostly  crown  property,  and  the 
best  security  which  the  sovereigns  had  to  pledge ; 
therefore  a  great  money-lender  became,  almost  of 
course,  a  mine  owner.  For  example,  in  1487,  as 
security  for  a  loan  of  23,627  florins  made  to  the  Arch- 

1  Das  Zeitalter  der  Fugger,  Ehrenberg,  I.,  189. 
^  Ibid.,  I.,  89. 


n.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  57 

duke  Siegmund,  Jacob  received  the  silver  mines  of 
Schwarz.  The  next  year,  for  150,000  florins,  the 
Fugger  brothers  obtained  the  grant  of  the  entire 
yield  of  the  Schwarz  mines  until  repayment  of  the 
debt, — a  good  bargain  in  the  opinion  of  the  business 
community.  In  1495,  as  part  of  an  extensive  invest- 
ment in  copper,  the  Fuggers  secured  the  copper 
works  in  Neusohl,  eighty  miles  north  of  Budapest 
in  Hungary.  To  maintain  the  price  of  copper  they 
organized,  in  1498  and  1499,  with  other  Augsburg 
firms,  a  syndicate  for  cornering  the  Venetian  market. 
To  effect  this  purpose  they  shipped  their  Hungarian 
copper  to  Antwerp  by  Cracow,  the  Vistula,  and 
Dantzic.^  To  pursue  the  subject  further  would  be 
tedious,  but  the  statement  made  by  the  firm,  in  1527, 
shows  how  mining  property  and  minerals  predom- 
inated among  the  assets.^ 

In  mines  and  mining  shares  they  had  invested  .  .  .  270.000  flrs. 
In  real  estate  in  Augsburg,  Antwerp,  and  elsewhere    150.000  flrs. 

Merchandise 380,000  flrs. 

Loans 1,650.000  flrs. 

Cash 50.000  flrs. 

The  merchandise  consisted  mainly  of  metal.  The 
copper  in  Antwerp  alone  was  valued  at  above  200,000 
florins,  besides  silver  and  brass.  They  held  little 
cloth,  damask,  or  other  wares.  The  loans  were  large, 
often  secured  by  pledges  of  mines.  In  this  gen- 
eration the  Fuggers  touched  their  zenith,  when  in 
the  words  of  the  old  chronicle  of  Augsburg,  "the 
names  of  Jacob  Fugger  and  his  nephews  were  knovm 
in  all  kingdoms  and  lands,  even  in  heathendom. 
1  Ibid.,  I.,  89,  90.  2  jiid.^  I.,  122. 


58  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

Emperors,  kings,  princes,  and  nobles  have  sent  em- 
bassies to  him,  the  Pope  has  saluted  and  embraced 
him  as  his  beloved  son,  cardinals  have  stood  before 
him.  All  the  merchants  of  the  world  have  called 
him  an  enlightened  man,  and  the  heathen  have 
wondered  at  him.  He  has  been  the  jewel  of  Ger- 
many."^ With  the  Fuggers,  Germany  also  culmi- 
nated, and  German  cities  attained  to  a  size  in  the 
fifteenth  century  which  they  did  not  surpass  until 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth.  Many,  like  Liibeck, 
actually  declined,  while  Cologne  occupied  an  area 
which  sufficed  her  until  the  introduction  of  railways 
revolutionized  the  valley  of  the  Rhine.  This  prosper- 
ity came  in  the  main,  probably,  from  the  scientific 
development  of  minerals,  but  it  also  depended  in 
great  degree  on  commerce.  During  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  path  of  commerce  lay  across  Germany,  and  it  was 
the  gradual  abandonment  of  the  thoroughfares  over 
the  Alps,  for  the  voyage  to  Flanders,  that  wrought 
havoc  with  such  cities  as  Augsburg,  Nuremberg,  and 
Liibeck.  With  the  founding  of  Liibeck,  in  1143, 
German  commerce  may  be  taken  to  have  passed 
through  its  tentative  period,  and  to  have  determined 
on  the  lines  which  offered  least  resistance  in  passing 
overland  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  northern  seas. 
Speaking  generally,  Venice  proved  to  be  the  cheapest 
base,  and  the  Rhine  or  the  Elbe  the  best  avenue. 

Leaving  Venice,  one  route  followed  the  Semmering 
to  Vienna  and  Prague,  gaining  Liibeck  and  Hamburg 
by  the  Elbe  ;  the  Brenner,  likewise,  fed  the  Elbe  by 
way  of  Nuremberg  and  Leipsic.  The  bulk  of  the 
travel    over    the    Brenner,    however,   flowed   to   the 

^  Das  Zeitalter  der  Fugger,  I.,  Ii6. 


U.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  59 

Rhine,  descending  the  Main,  and  building  up  Wurz- 
burg,  Frankfort,  Mayence,  and  Cologne.  Less  com- 
monly merchants  crossed  Lombardy  to  the  Septimer, 
and  so  north  by  Coire  and  Ulm  to  Speyer ;  or  they 
may  even  have  preferred  the  St.  Gotthard  and  Basel ; 
but  whichever  route  the  Germans  chose,  the  great 
highways  finally  ended  in  well-established  termini, 
both  to  the  east  and  west,  where  Hanseatic  count- 
ing-houses of  capital  importance  flourished.  The 
thoroughfare  of  the  Rhine  led  through  Cologne  to 
Bruges  and  London  ;  that  of  the  Elbe  through  Liibeck 
to  Novgorod,  which  was  reached  by  the  Gulf  of  Fin- 
land, the  Neva,  and  the  Volkhoff. 

As  Schaffer  has  remarked,  "  He  who  follows  with 
watchful  eyes  the  bloom  of  these  mediaeval  communi- 
ties will  recall  the  drama  of  those  world  cities  which, 
in  our  own  days,  have  suddenly  from  nothing  sprung 
into  being  on  a  newly  cultivated  soil."  ^  Liibeck 
only  became  a  German  town  in  1143,  and  Vienna 
a  capital  in  11 56,  yet  both  were  famous  at  the  close 
of  the  century.  No  story  is  better  known  than 
that  of  Coeur  de  Lion,  who  chose  the  Vienna  route 
to  London,  on  his  return  from  Palestine  in  1192, 
and  was  arrested  at  Erdberg  between  Vienna  and 
Prague.  He  excited  suspicion  by  sending  his  servant 
with  his  ring  to  the  capital  to  buy  food,  while  he 
remained  at  the  village  disguised. 

Liibeck  owed  her  consequence  to  the  development 
of  the  whole  basin  of  the  Baltic,  but  particularly  of 
northern  Russia.  For  centuries  Novgorod  had  been 
a  considerable  market.  From  its  foundation  Con- 
stantinople had  imported  grain,  —  at  first  from  Egypt, 

^  Die  Hansestdate,  50. 


60  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

but  after  the  advent  of  the  Saracens,  from  the  Euxine. 
Amru  occupied  Alexandria  in  640,  and  from  the 
cessation  of  the  distribution  of  African  wheat  by 
Heraclius,  the  demand  was  transferred  to  the  valleys 
of  the  Danube  and  the  Dnieper.  The  Eastern  Empire 
had  two  periods  of  grandeur,  one  under  Justinian, 
about  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century;  the  other 
toward  the  close  of  the  tenth. 

The  Byzantine  Empire,  which,  after  the  reign  of 
Justinian,  had  languished,  fell  to  the  lowest  depth  of 
indigence  under  Heraclius;  but  from  the  beginning 
of  the  eighth  century  a  steady  recovery  set  in,  which 
brought  Constantinople  to  high  prosperity  about  950. 
As  the  wealth  of  the  Greeks  grew  their  expenditure 
increased,  and  the  Jew,  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  was 
lost  in  admiration  at  the  magnificence  of  their 
garments.  Such  a  population  not  only  bought  food 
on  a  vast  scale,  but  the  more  costly  furs,  and 
the  region  from  which  they  drew  their  supplies 
flourished  proportionately.  The  Bulgarian  kingdom, 
bordering  the  Danube,  rose  from  barbarism  to  affluence 
and  refinement,  and  the  waterway  which  led  through 
Russia  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Baltic  became 
studded  with  flourishing  cities.  The  chief  of  these 
were  Kieff  and  Smolensk  on  the  Dnieper,  and  Nov- 
gorod on  the  Volkhoff.  Novgorod  the  Great,  lying 
at  the  point  where  the  Volkhoff  enters  Lake  Ilmen, 
having  connection  with  the  Gulf  of  Finland  by  Lake 
Ladoga  and  the  Neva,  and  being  the  point  where 
traffic,  ascending  the  Volga  and  the  Dnieper,  and 
seeking  an  outlet  on  the  Baltic,  converged,  was  an 
emporium  open  alike  to  the  north,  south,  east,  and 
west.     As  it  flourished  when  it  supplied  the  Byzan- 


n.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  6 1 

tines  and  the  Asiatics  with  sables  and  ermines,  so  it 
flourished  when  the  market  moved  northwestward  and 
estabhshed  itself  near  Paris. 

The  prosperity  of  the  Fairs  of  Champagne  is,  per- 
haps, the  capital  phenomenon  of  mediaeval  history, 
for  it  indicated  the  transfer  of  the  focus  of  wealth 
and  energy  from  the  borders  of  Asia  to  a  spot 
adjacent  to  the  Atlantic,  a  greater  economic  rev- 
olution than  had  ever  happened  previously.  The 
rise  of  Champagne  and  the  fall  of  Constantinople 
were  precisely  contemporaneous.  The  earliest  men- 
tion of  the  fairs  is  in  a  deed  by  Hugh,  Count  of 
Troyes,  dated  in  1114.  The  plundering  of  Con- 
stantinople by  Alexius  Comnenus  took  place  in  1081, 
and  may  be  accepted  as  the  beginning  of  the  end. 
About  1200  the  Fairs  of  Champagne  reached  their 
prime,  and  the  wealth  which  poured  into  the  adjacent 
provinces  is  attested  by  the  unparalleled  splendor  of 
the  architecture  of  the  period.  No  monuments  so 
superb  as  the  French  cathedrals  of  the  early  thir- 
teenth century  have  ever  been  constructed  in  Europe. 
At  this  precise  moment,  in  the  year  1204,  Constan- 
tinople fell  before  the  arms  of  the  crusaders,  and  her 
people  were  plunged  in  ruin. 

This  migration  of  the  dominant  market  from  the 
Bosphorus  to  the  Atlantic  altered  the  whole  social  and 
political  complexion  of  Russia.  Her  customers  lived 
no  longer  in  the  south,  to  be  reached  only  by  the  high- 
way of  the  Dnieper,  but  to  the  west,  through  the  Baltic 
and  the  North  seas.  The  Baltic  is  a  dangerous  and 
stormy  sea,  and  the  cost  of  its  navigation  was  increased 
by  the  risk  and  delay  of  passing  through  the  sound, 
and  also  by  the  toll  there  collected  from  shipping. 


62  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

It  SO  happens,  however,  that  on  either  side  of  the 
isthmus,  where  the  promontory  of  Denmark  joins 
the  mainland,  two  rivers  have  their  outlet, — the  Trave 
entering  the  Baltic,  and  the  Elbe  the  German  Ocean. 
The  portage  between  these  rivers  is  short,  and  accord- 
ingly two  of  the  most  famous  cities  of  mediaeval 
Germany  grew  up  side  by  side,  forming  for  many  pur- 
poses a  single  corporation.  These  cities  were  Liibeck 
and  Hamburg,  and  they  flourished  exceedingly,  since 
they  served  as  the  distributing  point,  not  only  of  the 
merchandise  which  descended  the  Elbe  from  Venice, 
but  of  the  coasting  trade  between  Russia  and  the 
ports  of  Flanders.  That  trade  was  considerable  in 
volume  and  of  high  value.  All  mediaeval  society 
luxuriated  in  fur,  "  as  I  beHeve  for  our  damnation,"  said 
Adam  of  Bremen,  "  since,  per  fas  et  nefas,  we  strive  for 
a  garment  of  martin,  as  though  for  our  eternal  salva- 
tion." Nor  could  the  fashion  have  been  otherwise, 
since  furs  in  northern  Europe  were  not  only  essential 
to  comfort  but  to  health  itself.  The  climate  was  cold 
and  damp,  the  streets  of  the  towns  narrow  and  dark, 
and  the  houses  built  without  means  of  warming. 
Therefore  furs  played  a  part  in  indoor  life  foreign 
to  all  modern  ideas. 

Suzdal,  a  province  of  central  Russia,  the  predeces- 
sor of  modern  Moscow,  was  long  overshadowed  by 
Kieff.  To  the  Suzdalian,  Kieff  represented  all  that 
was  sacred  and  splendid,  and  the  highest  ambition  of 
the  Suzdalian  prince,  George  Dolgoruki,  was  to  ascend 
its  throne.  This  ambition  he  finally  gratified  in  1 1 55. 
The  rapidity  of  the  movement  of  the  age  is  shown 
by  the  divergence  of  view  between  two  generations. 
What  excited  the  father's  reverence  only  roused  the 


II.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  63 

son's  cupidity.  When  Andrew  succeeded  George,  far 
from  wishing  to  abandon  the  Volga  for  the  Dnieper, 
his  instinct  was  to  plunder  his  father's  sanctuary  and 
carry  the  spoil  home.  Accordingly,  in  1 169,  Andrew 
attacked  Kieff,  and  after  a  short  siege  carried  the 
walls  by  storm.  Then  he  gave  the  city  up  to  sack, 
plundering  not  only  private  houses,  but  convents, 
churches,  and  even  Saint  Sophia  itself.  Kieff  never 
recovered,  and  Andrew,  returning  to  Suzdal,  estab- 
lished his  administration  at  Vladimir  on  the  Klyasma, 
midway  between  where  Moscow  and  Nijni-Novgorod 
now  stand.  Vladimir  remained  the  capital  of  the 
Grand  Duchy  until  1328,  when  Moscow  gradually 
superseded  her.  In  1220  Nijni-Novgorod  came  into 
being,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Oka  and  the  Volga, 
at  the  heart  of  the  river  system  of  which  the  Volga 
forms  the  trunk. 

Nothing  could  mark  more  pointedly  the  automatic 
processes  of  nature  than  the  conversion  of  the 
ancient  Greek  Russia  of  the  Dnieper  into  the  modern 
Asiatic  Russia  of  the  Volga.  In  the  year  1000, 
Constantinople  being  the  dominant  market,  the  regions 
tributary  to  that  market  were  organized  to  correspond. 
Merchandise  from  Russia  moved  southward,  and  to 
avoid  the  navigation  of  the  stormy  Euxine,  men  used, 
when  possible,  the  Dnieper  instead  of  the  Don. 
Novgorod  served  as  the  port  of  entry  for  the  furs  and 
amber  of  the  Baltic,  and  also  as  the  depot  for  furs 
from  the  valley  of  the  Petchora,  which  reached  the 
Volkhoff  by  the  Volga  and  Rybinsk,  the  thorough- 
fare still  in  use.  The  wares  collected  at  Novgorod 
were  conveyed  by  the  Lovat  and  the  Dnieper  to  Kieff, 
where   Greek   merchants  congregated  to  buy  grain. 


64  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  CHAP. 

and  thus  Kieff  became  the  leading  local  market. 
But  leading  local  markets  are  the  natural  seats  of 
administrative  systems.  So  it  came  to  pass  that 
Russia  in  the  tenth  century  was  administered  from 
Kieff;  and  the  causes  which  made  Kieff  a  capital, 
kept  it  a  capital  until  the  direction  of  trade  changed. 

Between  looo  and  1200  a.d.  the  development  of 
German  minerals,  and  the  consequent  industrial  pros- 
perity of  all  northwestern  Europe,  propelled  the  seat 
of  commercial  exchanges  toward  the  English  Channel ; 
and  when  the  market  thus  shifted,  all  civilization 
readjusted  itself  to  conform  to  the  change.  As  the 
purchasing  .power  of  Constantinople  waned,  and  that 
of  the  Hanse  towns  waxed,  the  core  of  Russia,  re- 
volving on  Novgorod  as  on  a  pivot,  passed  through 
the  segment  of  a  circle,  abandoning  the  thorough- 
fare of  the  Dnieper,  which  led  north  and  south,  and 
travelling  to  the  valley  of  the  Volga,  which,  with  its 
branches,  the  Mologa  and  the  Kama,  forms  an  almost 
complete  system  of  waterways  from  the  Ural  on  the 
east,  and  the  Petchora,  which  empties  into  the  Arctic 
on  the  north,  to  the  Volkhoff  on  the  west.  At  Nov- 
gorod, on  the  Volkhoff,  the  Germans  fixed  their 
counting-house. 

As  a  consequence  Kieff  decayed,  and  with  it  the 
Greek  civihzation ;  while  Moscow,  Vladimir,  Nijni, 
and  Kazan  rose,  and  with  them  came  the  Tartars. 
Meanwhile,  German  replaced  Greek  as  the  commercial 
language,  German  enterprise  penetrated  the  recesses 
of  Russia  wherever  trade  promised  a  profit,  and  by 
1200  the  Novgorod  merchants  had  extended  their 
stations  throughout  the  valley  of  the  Petchora,  and 
perhaps   also   the   valley    of    the     Obi.      This    was 


II.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  65 

commercial  expansion,  and,  as  often  happens,  war  fol- 
lowed. 

Christianity  had  previously  been  preached  to  the 
heathen  Slavs,  but  until  the  German  merchants  per- 
ceived the  value  of  the  basin  of  the  Baltic,  the  Church 
had  not  been  awakened  to  the  necessity  of  armed 
conversion.  Religious  enthusiasm  for  conquest  grew 
with  the  prosperity  of  Liibeck  and  Hamburg,  and  in 
1 198  Innocent  III.  proclaimed  a  crusade  against 
northern  Russia.  Bishop  Albert  of  Buxhoewden  led 
his  flock  in  twenty -three  ships,  and,  entering  the  Duna, 
soon  baptized  the  multitude  and  settled  Riga,  which 
quickly  developed  commercial  importance  and  became 
the  capital  of  Livonia.  During  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, two  military  crusading  organizations,  which 
were  afterward  fused  under  the  name  of  the  Knights 
of  the  Teutonic  Order,  conquered  East  Prussia  and 
the  region  now  known  as  the  Baltic  Provinces  of 
Russia.  They  founded  many  towns,  among  others, 
Revel,  Venden,  once  the  residence  of  the  Grand- 
Masters,  Volmar,  Marienburg,  where  the  celebrated 
castle  still  stands,  Konigsberg,  and  Thorn.  In  13 10 
they  acquired  Dantzic.  The  Hanse  held  sway  in 
Novgorod. 

When,  during  the  eleventh  century,  trade,  surmount- 
ing the  Alps,  flowed  down  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe 
and  across  the  northern  seas,  pirates  on  the  water, 
and  robbers  in  foreign  lands,  threatened  the  life  of 
every  traveller.  To  protect  their  citizens,  some  of 
the  Germ.an  ports  early  coalesced ;  and  though  this 
coalition  did  not  earn  the  name  of  the  Hanseatic 
League  until  a  comparatively  late  date,  the  corpora- 
tion existed,  probably,  from  the  beginning.     Had  the 


66  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

German  trade  routes  converged,  so  as  to  give  all 
Germany  a  community  of  interest,  such  a  league 
could  hardly  have  been  evolved,  for  the  purposes  for 
which  it  was  established  could  have  been  more 
cheaply  accomplished  by  a  centralized  government, 
as  in  France  or  England. 

As  German  commerce  flowed  in  two  great  streams 
to  the  Baltic  and  the  North  Sea,  being  split  in  twain 
by  the  peninsula  of  Denmark,  the  interests  of  the 
cities  lying  along  these  trade  routes  diverged,  and  in 
consequence  the  methods  of  administration  remained 
rudimentary.  The  imperial  government  developed 
little  energy,  and  the  allied  cities  only  acted  together 
within  a  restricted  sphere.  They  agreed  to  pursue 
pirates,  to  police  the  rivers  as  far  as  possible,  and  to 
support  the  rights  of  their  citizens  abroad,  but  for 
aggression  they  were  helpless.  To  resist  a  powerful 
enemy,  a  separate  treaty  had  to  be  made  which  might 
include  other  towns  than  those  of  the  Hanse.  Such 
a  treaty,  negotiated  in  1367,  organized  the  Cologne 
confederation  which  overthrew  Waldemar  of  Den- 
mark, and  it  was  after  this  war  that  the  league 
reached  its  maturity.  Imperfect  as  it  was,  the 
Hanse  proved  the  most  effective  instrument  Germany 
employed  to  extend  her  influence ;  and  it  was  through 
the  energy  and  adroitness  of  her  merchants,  rather 
than  through  the  arms  of  the  crusaders,  that 
mediaeval  Germans  colonized  Russia. 

The  League  intrenched  itself  at  Novgorod,  and 
when  all  allowance  has  been  made  for  hyperbole, 
Novgorod  if  semi-barbarous  must  have  been  both  pop- 
ulous and  wealthy.  Gilbert  of  Lannoy,  who  visited 
Novgorod  in  141 3,  described  it  as  a  prodigious  town. 


n.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  6/ 

surrounded  by  forests,  lying  low  and  subject  to 
inundations,  and  fortified  with  mean  clay  walls 
and  stone  towers.  The  merchants  lived  the  lives 
of  a  garrison  amidst  savages.  The  guild  brethren 
occupied  large  buildings,  with  separate  rooms  set 
apart  for  the  use  of  the  master,  the  servants, 
and  the  members.  Saint  Peter's  church  served 
as  the  main  warehouse,  goods  being  stored  in  its 
vaults.  They  also  stacked  wine  casks  about  the 
altar,  only  on  the  altar  itself  nothing  could  be 
placed.  Part  of  the  duty  of  the  guild  members  was 
to  guard  the  church,  day  and  night,  particularly 
against  fire.  When  supper  ended,  visitors  left,  the 
doors  were  locked,  and  all  went  to  bed.  At  night 
the  houses  lay  like  fortresses,  within  strong  wooden 
palings,  to  cHmb  which  was  criminal ;  while,  to  insure 
discipline,  warders  regularly  made  the  rounds  and 
fierce  dogs  roved  in  the  yard.  For  such  privations 
the  merchants  sought  indemnity  from  the  Russians. 
Russians  were  excluded  from  the  company,  and 
Russian  commerce,  therefore,  vanished  from  the 
Baltic. 

To  sustain  prices  in  Russia,  the  Novgorod  counter 
restricted  imports ;  and  all  Europe  paid  tribute  to  the 
Hanse  for  furs,  and  the  wax  from  which  the  Church 
made  her  candles. 

Under  such  conditions  Liibeck  and  Hamburg, 
serving  as  the  outlet  of  the  commerce  both  of  the 
Elbe  and  of  the  Baltic,  should  seemingly  have  risen 
to  be  a  chief  international  market ;  and  that  they  did 
not  do  so  must  be  attributed  to  the  physical  confor- 
mation of  Germany,  which  set  her  at  a  disadvantage. 

No  error  can  be  greater  than  to  regard  the  barons. 


68  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

who  held  the  castles  on  the  roads,  as  public  enemies, 
or  even  as  the  enemies  of  commerce.  Without  police, 
roads  would  be  closed  by  robbers,  and,  in  an  age  of 
decentralization,  local  castles  protected  travellers. 
The  great  work  of  the  early  Saxon  emperors  lay  in 
the  erection  of  strongholds  along  the  line  of  the  Elbe, 
to  keep  the  Slavs  in  check.  In  fine,  a  guard  must 
always  be  maintained  and  paid ;  the  only  question  is 
one  of  price,  and  the  trouble  with  Germany  was  that 
her  castles  were  too  small  and  too  numerous,  and  the 
tolls  needed  to  support  the  garrisons  too  high. 

Thomas  Wikes, in  1269,  complained  that  "the  mad 
Germans,"  perched  on  their  inaccessible  rocks  above 
the  Rhine,  and  restrained  neither  by  fear,  nor  respect 
for  the  king,  exacted  intolerable  dues  from  all  passing 
vessels,  by  reason  of  which  merchants  were  ruined. 
In  the  first  fifteen  miles  above  Hamburg  on  the  Elbe 
there  were  no  less  than  nine  of  these  tolls.  The 
total  number  between  Hamburg  and  Vienna  may  be 
estimated.  To  reach  Champagne,  on  the  other  hand, 
after  leaving  Switzerland,  only  the  government  of 
Burgundy  had  to  be  dealt  with,  which  collected  six 
tolls. 1  Therefore,  the  route  by  Genoa  and  the  St. 
Bernard,  or  by  Marseilles  and  Lyons,  to  Paris,  came 
cheaper  than  the  Semmering  or  the  Brenner  and 
the  Elbe  to  Hamburg,  and  accordingly  the  Fairs 
of  Champagne  undersold  Liibeck.  The  sea,  how- 
ever, cost  less  than  any  land  journey,  once  the 
difficulties  of  navigation  had  been  overcome,  and  by 
the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  sailors  had  learned 
much.     In  1 147  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  Flemish  ships 

1  On  this  subject  see  Etudes  sur  les  Foires  de  Champagne,  Felix 
Bourquelot,  320. 


II.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  69 

reached  Venice,  which  was  perhaps  the  first  time  that 
a  Flemish  vessel  had  been  seen  in  the  Adriatic.^ 
Thenceforward  the  Italians  always  preferred  the  ocean 
when  practicable. 

But,  for  ships  bound  from  Venice,  or  Genoa,  to  the 
north  of  Europe,  Hamburg  and  Liibeck  were  inac- 
cessible. In  those  days  vessels  were  slow,  and  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  reach  the  Elbe  and 
return  the  same  year.  Therefore,  the  Italian  fleets 
stopped  in  Flanders.  The  Germans  and  Italians  met 
in  Bruges  or  Antwerp,  and  the  Germans  sent  their 
purchases  farther  east,  either  in  coasters  or  else  by 
land,  to  Cologne,  and  so  up  the  Rhine  and  the  Main. 
As  sea  freights  gained  on  land  freights,  the  con- 
stant tendency  was  for  the  thoroughfares  through 
the  Alps  to  lose  importance,  and  had  it  not  been  for 
mining,  south  Germany  would  have  sunk  into  com- 
parative poverty  at  a  relatively  early  period.  Such 
facts  seem  to  show  that  the  inventive  and  industrial 
faculty  which  first  brought  German  metals  on  the 
international  market,  and  afterward  threw  central 
Europe  into  excentricity  by  substituting  water  for 
land  transportation,  kept  western  civilization  in  fer- 
ment from  the  opening  of  the  crusades  to  the 
Reformation.  Nevertheless,  on  the  whole,  Europe 
prospered.  A  catastrophe,  induced  by  the  same 
causes,  fell  on  central  Asia,  under  which  it  sank, 
never  to  revive. 

The  ancient  trade  from  China  and  India  had 
converged  at  Balkh,  and  from   thence   had  reached 

1  Les  Relations  commerciales  des  Beiges  avec  le  N'ord  de  PTialie  et 
particulierement  avec  les  Vhietiens,  depuis  le  XII  jusqu^au  XVI 
Siecle,  Alexandre  Pinchart,  11  et  seq. 


70 


THE  NEW   EMPIRE 


the  Mediterranean  by  Babylon,  or  by  Tabriz  and 
Trebizond.  Consequently,  commercial  activity  had 
centred  in  Persia  and  Mesopotamia,  and  these  coun- 
tries had  been  the  richest,  the  most  populous,  and 
the  most  polished  in  the  world.  No  such  cities 
could  be  found  elsewhere  as  Samarkand,  Bokhara, 
Merv,  Herat,  Bamian,  Tabriz,  Hamadan,  Mosul,  and 
Bagdad.  When  Haroun-al-Rashid  lived,  about  800, 
Bagdad  was  indisputably  the  first  capital,  and  her 
caliph  the  chief  monarch,  of  the  earth. 

The  change  came  with  the  introduction  of  the  mag- 
net in  navigation.  From  about  the  third  century 
the  Chinese  appear  to  have  sailed  as  far  as  the 
Persian  Gulf,  but  the  dangers  of  the  Red  Sea  long 
protected  Bagdad.  Already  in  the  age  of  Haroun  this 
bulwark  was  failing.  Those  interested  in  the  early 
voyages  will  find  the  authorities  collected  by  Heyd 
in  his  work  on  the  Commerce  of  the  Levant,  but  for 
ordinary  readers  the  story  of  Sindbad  the  Sailor  is 
equally  convincing  and  more  amusing.  The  tales  of 
Sindbad  are  accurate  descriptions  of  travel,  with  only 
enough  exaggeration  for  popular  consumption.  To 
the  east,  Sindbad  reached  Malacca,  to  the  south, 
probably,  Madagascar.  He  made  his  last  voyage  to 
Ceylon,  by  the  command  of  the  caliph,  as  ambas- 
sador to  the  king  of  the  island,  and  the  noteworthy 
part  of  the  tale  is  the  small  importance  Haroun 
attached  to  the  mission.  In  his  sixth  voyage  Sindbad 
had  been  wrecked,  and  escaped  by  a  subterranean 
river,  carrying  with  him  many  jewels.  On  awakening 
on  his  raft  he  found  himself  in  Ceylon,  whose  king  sent 
him  home  with  a  letter  and  presents  for  the  caliph. 
After   his   fatigues    Sindbad  proposed  to  remain  in 


11.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  7 1 

Bagdad  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  but  one  day  he  received 
a  message  that  the  caliph  wished  to  speak  with  him. 
On  reaching  the  palace,  Haroun  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  sending  him  to  Ceylon  with  an  answer  to  the 
king,  and  a  return  of  presents.  When  Sindbad  re- 
monstrated he  observed:  "It's  only  a  question  of 
going  to  Ceylon  to  acquit  yourself  of  my  commission. 
After  that  you  can  return."  The  difference  between 
Haroun's  standpoint  and  Alexander's  explains  all 
that  followed. 

In  ancient  times,  although  navigation  improved 
sufficiently  to  admit  of  voyages  from  India  to  Egypt, 
and  Alexandria,  accordingly,  gained  upon  Babylon, 
ships  never  became  powerful  enough,  and  ocean 
freights  cheap  enough,  to  supersede  the  caravans  of 
central  Asia.  The  revolution  came  with  the  intro- 
duction of  the  magnetic  needle,  probably  about  the 
time  of  Sindbad,  or  a  little  later,  and  then  events 
moved  very  rapidly.  When  a  voyage  to  Ceylon  from 
Bagdad  counted  for  no  more  than  it  did  in  the  mind 
of  Haroun-al-Rashid,  it  evidently  would  no  longer 
pay  to  make  the  Persian  Gulf  a  stopping-point  on 
the  way  to  Egypt.  Nor  when  Chinese  junks  could 
sail  direct  from  Nanking  or  Canton  to  Aden,  would  it 
be  profitable  to  send  merchandise  by  camels  across 
the  Pamirs  to  Bactra,  far  less  from  Delhi  or  Lahore 
into  the  valley  of  the  Oxus,  as  an  avenue  to  a  Medi- 
terranean market.  Consequently  the  caravan,  for 
through  traffic,  fell  into  disuse,  and  central  Asia 
lapsed  into  excentricity.  The  inevitable  result  fol- 
lowed. Energy  declined,  and  the  Saracenic  empire 
dissolved. 

According  to   Gibbon,  the  caliph    El    Rahdi,  the 


72  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

twentieth  of  the  Abbassides,  "was  the  last  who  de- 
served the  title  of  commander  of  the  faithful.  .  ,  . 
After  him  the  lords  of  the  eastern  world  were  reduced 
to  the  most  abject  misery,  and  exposed  to  the  blows 
and  insults  of  a  servile  condition."  ^  Conversely, 
Egypt  rose  to  almost  incredible  splendor  and  power, 
and  became  at  once  the  centre  of  wealth,  of  refine- 
ment, and  of  learning.  Her  progress  is  marked  in 
many  ways.  El  Rahdi  reigned  from  934  to  940. 
Nicephorus  Phocas,  emperor  of  the  East,  came  to  the 
throne  in  963 ;  and  Phocas  and  his  successor,  John 
Zimisces,  taking  advantage  of  the  weakness  of  the 
Moslems,  devastated  the  valley  of  the  Orontes,  and 
closed  Syria  as  a  thoroughfare.  In  969  the  first 
Fatimite  cahph  of  Egypt  laid  the  foundations  of 
Cairo,  in  11 76  Cairo  was  walled,  and  "from  the  year 
1 1 76  to  our  days  Cairo  has  had  no  notable  increase, 
if  it  be  not  the  prolongation  of  the  quarter  El- 
Hasanyeh.  In  two  centuries  it  acquired  its  actual 
limits."  ^  Moreover,  Cairo's  architectural  splendor 
belongs  to  the  interval  between  the  decline  of  Bag- 
dad, which  began  in  the  ninth  century,  and  the  dis- 
covery of  the  sea  route  to  India,  in  1497.  One  of 
the  earliest  and  most  beautiful  of  her  mosques,  Tey- 
loun,  "  a  model  of  elegance  and  grandeur,"  dates  from 
876  A.D.,^  sixty  years  before  the  final  wreck  in 
Mesopotamia  after  El  Rahdi.  Her  noblest  gate,  the 
Bab-el-Nasr,  is  a  work  of  the  eleventh  century. 
The  Gama-el-Azhar,  destined  to  be  the  greatest  of 
universities,  and  finished  in  972,  is  said,  in  its  prime, 
to  have  sheltered  twelve  thousand  students  who  daily 

1  Decline  and  Fall,  Chap.  LII. 

2  L'Art  Arabe,  Prisse  d'Avennes,  74.  *  Ibid.,  94. 


II.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  73 

received  instruction  in  medicine,  theology,  philos- 
ophy, mathematics,  geography,  and  history.  In  1359 
the  Sultan  Hassan  completed  his  famous  mosque, 
costing  $3,000,000,  equivalent  to  more  than  ten  times 
that  sum  in  our  money,  and  which  ranks  among  the 
masterpieces  of  the  world. 

The  Egyptian  court  was  most  gorgeous,  the  Egyp- 
tian empire  largest,  and  Egypt's  fame  highest  under 
Saladin,  who  defeated  Philip  Augustus  and  Cceur  de 
Lion  in  Palestine,  and  who  will  always  remain  an 
heroic  figure  in  history.  From  these  facts  the  in- 
ference is  justified  that,  toward  the  year  1200,  the  old 
economic  system,  which  had  been  based  on  the 
caravan  routes  across  central  Asia,  had  been  super- 
seded by  the  modern  system,  which  is  based  upon 
the  sea.  The  track  commerce  followed  was  sim- 
plified. Starting  from  the  Chinese  and  Indian 
ports  and  the  spice  islands,  cargoes  were  often  con- 
signed to  Aden,  where  they  changed  hands,  and, 
crossing  the  Red  Sea  and  Egypt  to  the  Nile,  were 
floated  to  Cairo  and  Alexandria,  where  they  were 
sold  to  Europeans.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Nile  the 
stream  branched  to  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Marseilles, 
the  Venetian  section  being,  probably,  the  most  con- 
siderable. The  Venetian  traffic  also  was,  in  the  main, 
that  which  emerged  at  the  mouths  of  the  Elbe  and 
the  Rhine.  In  the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic  another 
maritime  system  prevailed,  controlled  by  the  Hanseatic 
League.  This  system  struck  its  roots  into  Russia  at 
Novgorod,  and  stretched  out  to  Sweden  on  the  north, 
the  Urals  and  the  Arctic  on  the  east,  and  to  London 
on  the  west,  its  base  being  Liibeck,  Hamburg,  Co- 
logne, and  Bruges.     Thus  it  would  appear  that  the 


74  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

old  and  new  economic  systems  were  divided  from 
each  other  by  a  sharp  line  of  demarkation.  The 
ancient  system  comprised  the  interior  of  China,  the 
whole  of  central  Asia  and  northern  India,  Syria,  and 
most  of  Europe  east  of  the  Adriatic;  the  new,  all  of 
Africa  and  Europe  west  of  a  line  drawn  from  Aden 
to  Suez,  and  thence  to  Venice  through  the  Adriatic. 
From  Venice  the  frontier  followed  the  trade  route 
north  to  Vienna,  Prague,  and  the  Elbe,  until  it  reached 
East  Prussia,  where,  turning  east,  it  ended  with  Nov- 
gorod. In  fine,  as  far  as  the  Western  Empire  ex- 
tended, this  division  almost  coincided  with  its  boun- 
dary save  in  regard  to  Egypt;  and  the  cause  which 
produced  the  division  led  to  the  Mongol  invasion. 

Wherever  commercial  exchanges  centre,  movement 
is  rapid,  because  men's  minds  are  highly  stimulated ; 
when  a  region  falls  into  excentricity,  the  stimulant 
is  reduced,  and  proportionate  languor  supervenes. 
This  law  seems  to  be  universal.  Therefore  commu- 
nities which  have  been  abandoned  by  their  trade 
routes,  though  often  retaining  wealth  for  long  periods 
if  undisturbed,  lose  their  energy,  and  offer  temp- 
tations to  pillage.  Such  was  the  case  with  Rome, 
and  such  was  the  fate  of  this  unfortunate  region 
which  had  been  discarded  between  the  eleventh  and 
the  thirteenth  centuries.     Constantinople  fell  first. 

In  1 198  Innocent  III.  preached  a  crusade  against 
the  Saracens,  and  the  Byzantine  Empire  had  then 
been  languishing  for  upwards  of  a  century.  If  the 
fortification  of  the  Harz  by  Henry  the  Fowler  be 
taken  as  the  point  of  departure,  all  these  events  fall 
into  a  regular  sequence.  In  924  Henry  built  his  first 
tower   at   Quedlinburg.     In  another   generation  the 


n.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  75 

mines  had  come  into  operation,  and  before  the  close 
of  the  century  western  Europe  had  responded  to  the 
impetus.  The  effect  had  been  the  diversion  of  trade 
from  the  Bosphorus  to  the  Adriatic,  and  Venice  had 
prospered  while  Constantinople  had  declined.  In  the 
Byzantine  Empire  all  went  ill.  Disorder  prevailed, 
and  in  1081  Alexius  Comnenus,  having  bribed  a  body 
of  Germans  to  open  a  gate,  entered  the  capital  with  a 
body  of  ruffians,  and  pillaged  as  though  in  a  hostile 
land.  Proclaimed  emperor,  he  dared  not  fight  Robert 
Guiscard  with  his  own  navy,  but  abandoned  the 
defence  of  Durazzo  to  the  Venetians.  Thencefor- 
ward the  administration  degenerated  apace,  trade  fell 
off,  the  coinage  deteriorated,  and,  when  Innocent's 
crusaders  met  at  Venice,  in  1202,  to  take  ship  for  the 
Holy  Land,  Constantinople  offered  the  fairest  prize 
to  the  spoiler  that  had  been  known  since  Alaric  took 
Rome.  Henry  Dandolo,  the  greatest  of  Venetian 
statesmen,  saw  his  opportunity.  He  held  the  crusaders 
in  his  power,  for  they  owed  the  Republic  for  transpor- 
tation sums  they  could  not  pay.  Dandolo  proposed  to 
them  to  aid  him  to  sack  Constantinople,  to  divide  the 
proceeds,  and  thus  meet  their  obligations,  suggesting 
that  afterward  enough  would  remain  to  enrich  them 
all. 

The  event  proved  Dandolo's  sagacity.  On  April 
12,  1204,  the  soldiers  of  Christ  carried  the  tremen- 
dous battlements  of  Byzantium,  which  had  been 
deemed  impregnable,  and  slaughtered,  almost  without 
loss,  a  garrison  outnumbering  them  about  five  to  one. 
The  sack  which  followed  has  lived  in  human  memory, 
even  amid  the  multitude  of  such  awful  tales.  Neither 
age  nor  sex  escaped.     Nothing  was  so  sacred  as  to 


76  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

command  immunity,  and  the  ecclesiastics  who  accom- 
panied the  army  found  an  incalculable  treasure  in  the 
relics  with  which  the  convents  and  churches  were 
filled.  The  prices  these  fetched  in  the  mediaeval 
market  may  be  estimated  by  the  sum  paid  for  the 
Crown  of  Thorns  by  Saint  Louis,  which  could  not 
have  been  far  from  a  million  of  our  money. 

Mark  that  Constantinople  stood  just  to  the  east  of 
the  line  which  separated  the  old  from  the  new  eco- 
nomic systems,  and  consider  the  success  of  Dandolo; 
then  turn  to  Cairo,  which  lay  as  far  to  the  west,  and 
ponder  the  fate  of  those  who  attempted  a  similar  raid. 
In  1249,  forty-five  years  later.  Saint  Louis,  at  the 
head  of  the  finest  force  ever  organized  in  Europe, 
landed  in  Egypt  and  advanced  to  Mansurah;  there, 
meeting  a  decisive  defeat,  on  April  5,  1250,  he  and 
his  army  surrendered.  Instead  of  bringing  home  in- 
finite wealth,  he  exhausted  France  in  furnishing  a 
ransom. 

Doubtless,  Europeans  won  sporadic  successes 
during  the  crusades ;  but,  notwithstanding  these,  they 
never,  like  the  Greeks  under  Alexander,  penetrated 
the  recesses  of  Asia.  The  destruction  of  the  ancient 
civilization  of  the  interior  was  reserved  for  hordes  of 
nomadic  barbarians.  The  Mongols  had  been  deemed 
by  their  civilized  neighbors  to  be  "among  the  most 
wretched  of  mankind,  wandering  in  an  elevated  region 
of  Tartary,  and  under  an  inclement  sky,  and  so  poor 
that  Rashid  tells  us  only  their  chiefs  had  iron  stir- 
rups." 1  There  is  nothing  to  show  that  thirteenth  cen- 
tury Mongols  differed  materially  from  their  ancestors. 
True,  they  produced  a  great  soldier,  but  the  greatest 

1  History  of  the  Mongols,  Howorth,  I.,  lo8. 


II.  THE   NEW  EMPIRE  JJ 

of  soldiers  is  naught  without  an  opportunity  ;  and  the 
opportunity  of  Jenghiz  Khan  came  to  him,  not  from 
his  own  strength,  but  from  the  weakness  of  his  victim. 
The  fact  seems  established  that  the  Mongols  seldom 
or  never  prevailed  against  a  united  and  determined 
foe;  their  successes  were  won  against  organisms 
resembling  the  Byzantine  Empire,  and  their  victories 
recall  the  sack  of  Constantinople. 

Probably  in  the  year  1162,  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Onon,  which  rises  to  the  east  of  Lake  Baikal, 
and  which  finally  merges  in  the  Amur,  a  certain 
Mongol  chief  had  born  to  him  a  boy  whom  he  named 
Temudjin,  after  a  Tartar  khan,  whom  he  had  defeated. 
Temudjin  was  but  thirteen  when  his  father  died,  and 
that  he  survived  is  evidence  of  his  adaptation  to  his 
surroundings.  At  one  time  he  sank  to  the  depth  of 
misery,  was  captured,  tortured,  escaped,  was  recap- 
tured, and  only  saved  from  death  by  the  pity  of  his 
pursuer,  who  hid  him  in  his  house.  For  many  years 
Temudjin  waged  war  upon  his  neighbors,  nor  was  it 
until  the  year  1206,  that,  ha\dng  destroyed  his  rivals, 
he  assumed  the  title  of  Jenghiz  Khan,  or  "Very 
Mighty  Khan." 

At  this  time  China  was  divided  into  two  empires, 
a  southern  with  a  capital  at  Hangchow,  and  a  north- 
ern, ruled  by  the  Kin  emperors,  who  resided  near  Pe- 
king. In  1209  the  Kin  emperor  sent  to  Jenghiz  Khan 
to  collect  the  regular  tribute,  but  Jenghiz,  relying  on 
rumors  of  disaffection  which  came  to  him  through 
refugees,  scornfully  told  the  envoy  that  the  "Son  of 
Heaven"  was  an  imbecile,  and,  mounting  his  horse, 
rode  off.  War  followed,  and  Jenghiz  obtained  his 
first  success  through  the  treachery  of  the  garrison  of 


78  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

the  great  wall,  who  deserted.  At  a  favorable  point 
the  Kin  generals  awaited  him  with  a  vast  army>  but 
Jenghiz  learned  their  plans  from  the  commander  of 
their  advance  guard,  who  went  over  to  him,  and 
found  means  to  crush  one  of  their  divisions.  Then 
the  Chinese  fell  back,  the  fortress  which  covered  the 
capital  was  abandoned  in  panic,  and  the  Mongols  took 
the  town.  In  August,  12 12,  Jenghiz  besieged  Tai- 
ton-fu,  but  meeting  with  a  stout  resistance  he  retired 
into  the  desert. 

In  these  campaigns  the  Mongols  could  have  accom- 
plished little  without  the  aid  of  the  Chinese  them- 
selves, for  the  Mongols  were  not  engineers,  and  relied 
on  deserters  to  conduct  their  siege  operations.  But 
China  was  rotten  to  the  core.  In  12 13  the  Kin 
dynasty  collapsed.  A  certain  general  named  Hushaku 
conspired  against  the  emperor,  murdered  him,  and 
raised  a  creature  of  his  own  to  the  throne.  He  then 
defeated  the  Mongols,  but,  being  wounded,  a  rival 
cut  off  his  head  and  sent  it  as  a  present  to  the  new 
potentate,  who  rewarded  the  mutineer  by  making 
him  commander-in-chief.  Yet  China,  broken  as  it 
was,  fought  valiantly  compared  to  central  Asia.  In 
12 1 7  Jenghiz  reached  Kashgar,  his  dominions  then 
becoming  coterminous  with  those  of  Mohammed 
the  Khuarezm  Shah,  whose  empire  stretched  from 
the  Pamirs  to  Mesopotamia,  and  from  the  Indus 
to  the  Aral.  Soon  a  quarrel  broke  out.  Certain 
agents  of  Jenghiz,  nominally  employed  in  purchasing 
for  him,  were  arrested  and  executed  as  spies  at 
Otrar.  Receiving  no  satisfaction,  Jenghiz,  in  12 18, 
marched  from  Karakorum  in  two  columns.  The 
southern,  moving  by  the  Terek  Pass  and  Usch,  encoun- 


II.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  79 

tered  Mohammed's  forces,  ill  disciplined  and  disorgan- 
ized. Mohammed  himself,  a  debauched  poltroon,  fled 
to  Samarkand. 

The  northern  column,  following  the  valley  of  the 
Irtysh  and  Lake  Balkash,  attacked  Otrar.  In  April, 
1 2 19,  the  garrison,  being  somewhat  pressed,  deserted. 
Otrar  taken,  Jenghiz  overran  the  valley  of  the  Syr-Daria 
and  marched  on  Bokhara,  one  of  the  magnificent  and 
cultivated  cities  of  Asia.  Garrisoned  by  20,000  men, 
it  was  surrounded  by  two  walls,  one  about  four  miles  in 
circumference,  the  other  nearly  fifty,  the  interval  be- 
tween the  two  being  filled  with  palaces,  parks,  and 
gardens,  and  traversed  by  the  river  Sogd.  In  a  few 
days  the  troops  in  Bokhara  fled,  but  were  cut  to  pieces, 
and  then  the  chief  men  surrendered.  Jenghiz  ad- 
dressed the  people,  saying:  "  I  am  the  scourge  of  God. 
If  you  were  not  great  criminals,  God  would  not  have  per- 
mitted me  to  have  thus  punished  you."  The  inhabit- 
ants were  then  driven  from  the  gates,  that  the  pillage 
might  be  the  easier,  and  the  Mongols  burned  the 
town.  "  It  was  a  fearful  day.  One  only  heard  the 
sobs  and  weeping  of  men,  women,  and  children,  who 
were  separated  forever ;  women  were  ravished  while 
many  men  died  rather  than  survive  the  dishonor  of 
their  wives  and  daughters."  ^  Von  Hammer  has 
compared  the  accounts  of  the  sack  of  Bokhara  given 
by  the  Moslems,  with  those  given  by  the  Greeks  of 
the  sack  of  Constantinople.  Samarkand  fell  next. 
Samarkand  was  not  only  the  capital  of  Trans-Oxania, 
but  an  opulent  market.  Its  garrison  consisted  of 
110,000  Turkomans  and  Persians.  The  Turks  at 
once  deserted.    Then  the  town  surrendered.    Besides 

1  History  of  tlie  Mongols,  I.,  78. 


8o  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

plundering  the  place,  60,000  citizens  were  reduced 
to  slavery.  The  troops  were  massacred.  Next  the 
Mongols  fell  upon  Khorasan,  the  garden  of  Asia. 
Merv,  the  "  king  of  the  world,"  and  extremely 
ancient,  was  rich  and  populous.  The  governor,  after 
a  couple  of  sorties,  decided  to  surrender.  Tempted 
by  promises,  he  visited  the  Mongol  camp  with 
his  relations  and  friends,  when  all  were  massacred. 
The  Mongols  entered  the  gates,  and  the  inhabit- 
ants were  made  to  march  out  with  their  treasures. 
The  procession  lasted  four  days.  The  Mongol  prince, 
raised  on  a  golden  throne  in  the  midst  of  the  plain, 
caused  the  chiefs  to  be  decapitated  as  a  spectacle. 
Then  a  general  massacre  ensued.  It  is  said  that 
"  Seyid  Yzz-ud-din,  a  man  renowned  for  his  virtues 
and  piety,  assisted  by  many  people,  was  thirteen  days 
in  counting  the  corpses,  which  numbered  1,300,000."  ^ 
The  ferocity  of  the  invaders  can  be  judged  by  their 
slaughter  of  5000  victims  who  had  hidden  in  holes 
and  corners  and  afterward  came  out  for  food. 

Nishapur  fell  in  April,  1221,  two  months  after  the 
death  of  Sultan  Mohammed.  In  two  days  the  walls 
were  breached.  The  carnage  lasted  four  days.  To 
prevent  the  living  hiding  beneath  the  dead,  Tului,  the 
Mongol  general,  ordered  all  the  heads  to  be  cut  off,  and 
separate  heaps  made  of  those  of  the  men,  women,  and 
children.  Only  400  artisans  escaped,  who  were  trans- 
ported into  the  north.  Years  afterward  the  Sultan 
Jelal-ud-din  farmed  out  the  right  to  seek  for  treasure 
in  the  ruins  of  Nishapur  for  30,000  dinars  a  year. 
Sometimes  as  much  was  found  in  a  single  day. 

Herat  surrendered,    afterward   rebelled,   and   was 

1  History  of  the  Mongols,  I.,  87. 


11.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  8 1 

captured  because  of  dissensions  among  its  garrison. 
For  a  whole  week  the  Mongols  ceased  not  to  kill  and 
burn,  and  1,600,000  people  are  said  to  have  perished ; 
the  place  was  depopulated  and  made  desert.  The 
Mongols  then  retired.  Soon  after  they  returned  to 
destroy  any  of  the  inhabitants  who  yet  lived.  They 
slaughtered  over  2,000.  When  the  scourge  ended, 
"forty  persons  assembled  in  the  great  mosque  —  the 
miserable  remnants  of  its  once  teeming  population."  ^ 

Balkh,  Bamian,  every  town  of  importance  in  cen- 
tral Asia,  shared  in  the  ruin.  All  men  knew  the  fate 
awaiting  the  conquered,  and  yet  all  historians  have 
remarked  on  "  the  miserable  decrepitude  of  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  Mongols,"  and  have  cited  astonishing 
examples.  "  A  Mongol  entered  a  populous  village, 
and  proceeded  to  kill  the  inhabitants  one  after 
another,  without  any  one  raising  a  hand.  Another, 
wishing  to  kill  a  man,  and  having  no  weapon  by 
him,  told  him  to  lie  down  while  he  went  for  a 
sword ;  with  this  he  returned  and  killed  the  man, 
who  in  the  meantime  had  not  moved.  An  officer 
with  twent}^-seven  men  met  a  Mongol,  who  was 
insolent,  he  ordered  them  to  kill  him;  they  said 
they  were  too  few,  and  he  actually  had  to  kill  him 
himself;  having  done  which  all  immediately  fled."  ^ 

Inertia  invariably  accompanies  a  slackening  in  the 
velocity  of  social  movement.  This  inertia  was  con- 
spicuous throughout  the  whole  zone  of  the  Mongol 
conquests,  which  comprised  the  entire  ancient  eco- 
nomic system.  It  is  true  that  Jenghiz  himself  did  not 
erect  a  principality  in  the  valley  of  the  Indus,  but 
Tamerlane  some  generations  later  laid,  at  Delhi,  the 

1  History  of  the  Mongols,  I.,  91.  2  73/^'.,  I.,  131,  132. 

G 


82  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

foundations  of  the  empire  of  the  Great  Mogul.  Jen- 
ghiz  and  his  immediate  successors  expended  their 
energy  in  the  north.  In  Asia  Minor  they  swept 
through  the  Van  country ;  in  Syria  they  pillaged 
Antioch,  and  occupied  Damascus ;  in  Mesopotamia 
they  slew,  according  to  report,  800,000  people  in 
Bagdad  alone. 

In  1237  the  Mongols  assailed  Russia.  At  Ryazan 
the  prisoners  were  impaled,  or  shot  with  arrows  for 
sport,  or  flayed  alive.  Priests  were  roasted,  "and 
nuns  and  maidens  ravished  in  the  churches  before 
their  relatives."  Invading  Suzdal,  they  immolated 
Moscow  and  Vladimir  and  many  other  cities.  At 
Kieff  the  fugitives  collected  in  the  cathedral,  where 
numbers  ascended  to  the  roof,  carrying  with  them 
their  wealth.  The  roof,  being  flat,  gave  way,  when 
the  Mongols,  rushing  in  among  the  ruins,  slaughtered 
without  mercy ;  "  the  very  bones  were  torn  from  the 
tombs  and  trampled  under  the  horses'  hoofs."  ^ 

Advancing  into  Poland,  the  Mongols  crossed  the 
Oder,  and,  on  April  9,  1241,  fought  a  famous 
battle  at  Liegnitz,  about  one-third  of  the  way  be- 
tween Breslau  and  Dresden.  Outnumbering  the 
Christians  nearly  five  to  one,  they  defeated  them, 
but  at  such  a  cost  that  they  turned  south  and  en- 
tered Hungary.  Several  noble  Silesian  and  Moravian 
families  still  bear  the  Mongol  cap  as  a  memento 
of  their  ancestors'  prowess  in  this  action.  In  Hun- 
gary the  Mongols  met  with  slight  opposition,  as 
"the  Hungarian  nation  was  disintegrated  and  dis- 
satisfied." ^  Therefore  Batu  forced  the  line  of  the 
Vistula  and  the  Danube,  as  he  had  forced  the  line 

1  History  of  the  Mongols^  Howorth,  I.,  141.  ^  Jbid,,  I.,  147. 


n.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  83 

of  the  Dnieper  and  the  Lovat.  The  story  of  the 
invasion  is  like  the  story  of  the  conquest  of  China 
and  of  Persia.  Cracow  had  been  previously  burned, 
and  Batu  marched  direct  from  Russia  on  Buda. 
The  enemies  met  on  the  heath  of  Mohi,  near  Tokay. 
Batu  attacked  at  night  the  Hungarian  army,  which 
would  no  longer  obey  its  leaders.  The  Templars, 
indeed,  fought  as  beseemed  their  order  and  their 
fame,  but  the  Huns,  as  a  body,  first  refused  to  leave 
their  camp,  and  then  fled.  Their  pursuers  strewed 
with  their  corpses  a  space  of  two  days'  journey. 
Sixty-five  thousand  men  are  beheved  to  have  fallen. 

On  December  25,  1241,  Batu  crossed  the  Danube 
on  the  ice,  to  storm  the  rich  city  of  Gran.  He  en- 
countered little  resistance  from  the  inhabitants,  many 
of  whom  he  roasted  to  discover  hidden  treasure.  He 
then  tried  the  citadel,  but  the  citadel  was  held,  not  by 
a  Hun,  but  by  a  sturdy  Spaniard,  and  Batu  suffered 
a  defeat.  Nor  did  the  Duke  of  Austria  fail  to  raise 
an  army  with  which  he  made  good  Vienna.  As 
usual,  when  they  encountered  a  serious  obstacle,  the 
Mongols  moved  in  a  direction  where  the  resistance 
would  be  less,  and  turning  south  from  Austria,  they 
marched  along  the  eastern  coast  of  the  Adriatic  to 
Scutari.     There  they  stopped. 

Thus  the  limits  of  the  barbarian  inroads  are  well 
defined.  Starting  from  near  Pekin,  they  followed  the 
caravan  routes  to  Kashgar,  and  thence  across  the 
Terek  Pass  to  Usch,  Khokam,  Samarkand,  and  Bactra. 
There,  still  following  the  highways,  they  branched. 
One  division  crossed  the  Hindu  Kush  by  the  Pass  of 
Bamian,  and  erected  the  empire  of  Delhi ;  another, 
inarching  along  the  highway  of   Semiramis,  sacked 


84  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

Bagdad ;  still  another,  using  the  thoroughfare  by 
Tabriz  and  Lake  Van,  attacked  Mosul,  Aleppo,  and 
Damascus.  Advancing  into  Russia  they  ascended 
the  Volga  to  Vladimir,  and  descended  the  Dnieper 
to  Kieff.  They  devastated  Poland  and  Hungary, 
and  swept  bare  the  valleys  of  the  Vistula  and  the 
lower  Danube ;  but  when  they  overstepped  the  boun- 
dary between  the  old  economic  system  and  the  new, 
their  triumphs  ended.  Egypt  defied  them.  Ger- 
many, both  north  and  south,  repulsed  them,  and  they 
recoiled  from  before  the  walls  of  Novgorod.  The 
cleavage  was  the  same  as  that  which,  eight  hundred 
years  earlier,  split  the  domain  of  Rome  into  an  East- 
ern and  a  Western  empire,  and  for  the  same  reason. 

Nature  is  consistent.  The  fit  survive,  the  dis- 
carded perish.  As  the  destruction  of  Rome,  in  one 
age,  supervened  because  a  martial  race  could  not  de- 
velop into  mechanics  and  explorers,  so,  in  another 
age,  the  annihilation  of  what  had  been  the  eastern 
supplement  to  Rome  followed  upon  the  propagation 
of  more  versatile  competitors  in  the  west,  who  revo- 
lutionized exchanges  and  altered  the  paths  of  trade. 

Rome  decayed  and  fell,  because  she  could  neither 
provide  other  commodities  than  metal  to  barter  with 
the  East,  nor  improve  her  metallurgy  and  discover 
fresh  mines.  The  men  of  the  Middle  Ages,  bred  to 
fit  the  emergency,  not  only  supplied  what  the  Latins 
lacked,  but  cheapened  navigation,  until  ships  sup- 
planted the  caravan,  and  central  Asia  lost  the  inter- 
national eastern  traffic.  Then  the  eastern  half  of  the 
ancient  economic  system  sickened  and  died  of  in- 
anition, even  as  the  western  half  had  already  died ; 
and  sorry  bands  of  barbarians  wandered  through  the 


II.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  85 

Persian  gardens,  as  the  Goths  and  Vandals  had  wan- 
dered through  Italy  and  Gaul.  Caesar's  legions  would 
have  scattered  the  rabble  of  Genseric  like  chaff,  had 
Caesar's  legions  lived  in  the  fifth  century ;  and  the 
hordes  of  Jenghiz  would  have  fared  hardly  on  the 
plains  of  Mesopotamia,  had  they  met  there  warriors 
such  as  Saladin.  Yet  none  can  avert  their  fate ; 
Egyptian  splendor  and  Egyptian  prowess  survived 
not  the  discovery  of  Vasco  da  Gama.  In  15 17  the 
Turks  stormed  Cairo,  and  Egypt  degenerated  into  an 
Ottoman  province. 


CHAPTER    III 

Prosperity  has  always  borne  within  itself  the 
seeds  of  its  own  decay.  Piloti  remarked  that  the 
master  of  Cairo  was  master  both  of  Christendom 
and  India,  because  Cairo  commanded  the  road  from 
the  Red  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean.  The  French 
understood  the  situation  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
and  Saint  Louis  led  the  crusade  of  1248,  not  only  with 
the  view  of  recovering  Jerusalem,  but  also  in  the 
hope,  by  conquering  the  Sultan  of  Egypt,  of  obtain- 
ing the  key  to  the  Orient.  His  defeat  left  the  West 
helpless,  and  the  Arabs  profited  by  their  advantage. 
They  taxed  the  traffic  crossing  to  Alexandria,  up  to 
the  limit  at  which  spices  could  be  delivered  at  Con- 
stantinople or  Beyrout  by  caravan  from  Samarkand 
or  Bagdad.  Rapacity  produced  its  inevitable  effect. 
The  most  ingenious  and  enterprising  race  which  had 
ever  been  developed  was  stimulated  to  elude  the 
enemy  whom  they  could  not  vanquish.  The  result 
was  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus,  in  1492, 
and  of  the  passage  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  by 
Vasco  da  Gama,  in  1497.  Thereafter  in  a  single 
decade  a  disturbance  of  the  social  equilibrium  oc- 
curred, greater,  probably,  than  had  ever  before  taken 
place  in  many  centuries. 

From  time  immemorial  eastern  merchandise  had 
entered  the  Mediterranean  by  the  Levant,  and  from 
thence  had  percolated  through  Europe,  enriching  the 

86 


CHAP.  III.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  8/ 

cities  on  the  avenues  leading  toward  the  Atlantic. 
In  one  age  it  had  been  Corinth  and  Syracuse ;  in 
another,  Antioch,  Alexandria,  and  Rome ;  in  a  third, 
Venice,  Augsburg,  Nuremberg,  and  Liibeck ;  or 
Genoa,  Lyons,  and  Paris ;  but  at  the  beginning  of 
the  fifteenth  century  this  order  abruptly  closed,  and 
commerce,  avoiding  the  Mediterranean  altogether, 
passed  directly  toward  the  North  Sea  through  the 
ocean. 

On  the  northwest  and  southwest  the  British  Islands 
and  Spain  jut  out  into  the  Atlantic  from  the  conti- 
nent like  two  promontories.  When  the  eastern  trade 
moved  to  the  Atlantic,  the  effect  was  to  transfer  the 
competition,  which  theretofore  had  gone  on  between 
river  systems,  into  a  struggle  between  Spain,  Eng- 
land, and  France,  who  alone  had  ports  which  could 
be  utilized  as  centres  of  exchanges  for  ocean  traffic. 

The  intensity  of  the  struggle  for  supremacy  was 
heightened  during  the  sixteenth  century  by  a  finan- 
cial crisis  of  the  first  magnitude.  Europe's  vulner- 
able point  has  always  been  her  metals.  Rome  fell 
because  the  Spanish  mines  proved  inadequate  to  meet 
the  demands  upon  them,  and  at  the  time  of  the  dis- 
covery of  America  a  similar  catastrophe  threatened 
the  civilization  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Though  popula- 
tion, industry,  and  trade  had  all  increased  since  the 
reign  of  Saint  Louis,  the  yield  of  the  precious  metals 
had,  probably,  not  augmented,  even  if  it  remained 
constant;  therefore,  relatively  to  commodities,  the 
value  of  money  rose,  and  debtors  suffered  corre- 
spondingly. 

Long  ago  Thorold  Rogers  pointed  out  "  the  signifi- 
cant decline  in  prices  "  which  took  place  in  England 


88  THE  NEW   EMPIRE 


CHAP. 


between  1461  and  1540.^  In  reality  the  decline  began 
earlier,  and  extended  throughout  Europe. 

The  French  manufacturing  towns  which,  at  the 
close  of  the  twelfth  century,  built  cathedrals  such  as 
Chartres,  Amiens,  and  Rheims,  toward  the  year  1260 
fell  into  insolvency.^  Louis  IX.  had  coined  the  mark 
of  silver  into  2  pounds,  15  sous,  and  6  pence.  Under 
Philip  the  Fair,  in  1306,  the  same  weight  sufficed  for 
8  pounds,  10  sous.  In  England,  at  the  close  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  the  penny  weighed  22^  grains  of 
standard  silver ;  in  1 546,  the  penny  contained  but 
10  grains  of  metal,  two-thirds  of  which  were  base. 
And  yet  values,  if  anything,  tended  downward. 
Thorold  Rogers  marvelled.  He  could  not  explain 
why,  with  such  a  debasement,  the  bushel  of  grain 
should  have  cost  as  much  during  the  first  forty  years 
of  the  sixteenth  century  as  during  the  last  fourteen 
of  the  thirteenth.^ 

Silver  bought  more  because  scarcer,  and  this  scarc- 
ity may  be  attributed  both  to  an  increased  demand 
for  money  without  a  proportionate  supply  of  bullion, 
and  also  to  a  larger  export  of  gold  and  silver  to  the  East. 

As  long  as  the  caravan  trade  nourished  central 
Asia,  the  Persians  and  other  neighboring  commu- 
nities bought  liberally  of  woollens,  because  of  the 
severity  of  the  winter  climate.  After  the  devasta- 
tions of  the  Mongols  the  people  being  poorer  bought 
less.  Jenkinson,  in  1559,  could  barter  no  English 
cloth   of   any  kind  in   Bokhara.^     Egypt  purchased 

^  Agriculture  and  Prices,  IV.,  454. 
2  Les  Communes  Fran^aises,  Luchaire,  200,  201. 
'  Agriculture  and  Prices,  IV.,  200,  292. 
i       *  Early    Voyages  and  Travels  to  Russia  and  Persia,  by  Anthony 
Jenkinson,  Publications  of  Hakluyt  Soc,  I.,  88. 


III.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  89 

iron,  copper,  and  tin,  besides  timber  and  slaves,  but 
India  and  China  took  few  commodities  from  the  West, 
and,  on  the  whole,  Europe  had  to  face  a  heavy  ad- 
verse trade  balance,  which  she  settled  with  cash. 
Heyd  has  estimated  the  annual  export  of  the  precious 
metals,  in  1497,  at  300,000  ducats.  The  Venetian 
ducat  contained  3.559  grammes  of  gold,  or  about  the 
weight  of  $2.13;  the  equivalent  of  300,000  such 
ducats  to-day  might  be  ^7,500,000. 

Everywhere  the  suffering  was  acute,  and  every- 
where it  broke  out  in  discontent,  chiefly  against  the 
Church;  a  discontent  which  can  be  understood  in 
view  of  the  weight  of  her  exactions.^  A  document  of 
the  sixteenth  century  has  estimated  that,  in  141 5, 
at  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Constance,  France  sent 
annually  to  Rome  900,000  crowns  to  pay  for  annats, 
bulls,  dispensations,  and  the  like,  which  vast  sum  con- 
tributed nothing  toward  the  maintenance  of  worship 
in  the  kingdom.  The  English  parliament  passed  a 
series  of  statutes  to  obtain  relief ;  in  short,  all  Christen- 
dom, even  Spain,  betrayed  symptoms  of  resistance. 
It  was  just  at  the  moment  of  crisis  that  the  Spanish 
struggle  for  predominance  opened.  That  struggle 
began  with  the  election  of  Charles  V.  as  emperor  of 
Germany  in  15 19,  the  year  in  which  Luther  denied 
the  Papal  supremacy,  and  closed  with  the  defeat  of 
the  Armada  in  1588  ;  a  period  of  almost  precisely  two 
generations.  During  the  interval  Cortez  conquered 
Mexico  and  Peru,  the  mines  of  Potosi  were  discovered, 
a  flood  of  silver  poured  across  the  ocean,  and  in  1561 
Elizabeth  restored  the  shilling  to  its  original  fineness. 

^  For  the  economic  aspect  of  the  Reformation  see  the  chapter  on 
The  English  Reformation  in  The  Law  of  Civilization  and  Decay, 


90  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

Nevertheless  relief  came  too  late.  In  1588  the  wars 
of  the  Reformation  were  raging,  both  France  and 
Spain  had  repudiated,  the  Netherlands  had  been 
driven  to  revolt,  Antwerp  had  been  sacked,  and  on 
the  ruin  of  the  economic  system  of  the  continent 
England  was  preparing  to  lay  the  foundations  of  her 
empire. 

The  rise  of  Spain  must  always  appear  marvellous. 
Castile  and  Aragon  only  united  in  1479,  the  Moors 
were  not  expelled  until  Granada  fell  in  1492,  the  year 
in  which  Columbus  reached  Hispaniola,  and  yet  in 
1520  Spain  touched  her  zenith.  And  when  the  evi- 
dence is  analyzed,  it  will  be  found  that  she  owed  her 
high  fortune  not  so  much  to  the  valor  of  her  soldiers 
or  the  wisdom  of  her  statesmen,  as  to  that  chain  of 
cause  and  effect  which  for  a  fleeting  moment  made 
the  Iberian  peninsula  a  centre  of  commercial  ex- 
changes between  America,  Europe,  and  Asia. 

On  July  10,  1499,  the  first  ship  of  Vasco's  fleet  re- 
turned. On  that  day  Venice  held  control  of  the  eastern 
trade,  and  was  the  chief  commercial  state  of  Europe. 
In  1502  the  Venetian  galleys  brought  but  four  bales 
of  pepper  from  Beyrout,  and  from  Alexandria  Httle 
more.  In  a  few  months,  between  1501  and  1502,  the 
price  of  a  cargo  of  pepper  advanced  from  75  to  100 
ducats  on  the  Rialto,  and  Venice  stood  face  to  face 
with  ruin.i  On  the  other  hand,  Lisbon  rose  to  emi- 
nence, and  the  German  merchants,  who  had  been  the 
fountain  of  Venetian  prosperity,  left  their  Fondaco, 
and  hurried  westward  to  Portugal,  where  spices  could 
be  bought  for  half  the  price  they  brought  upon  the 
Adriatic.     In  September,   1503,  Vasco  da  Gama  re- 

^Histoire  du  Commerce  du  Levant,  Heyd,  2,  519. 


m.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  9I 

turned  from  his  third  voyage  with  a  rich  cargo,  part 
of  which  had  been  bought  with  the  proceeds  of  a  prize 
worth  24,000  ducats,  or  possibly  $550,000  of  our 
money.  The  value  of  the  whole  consignment  touched 
1,000,000  ducats,  while  the  cost  of  the  expedition  had 
not  exceeded  200,000.  It  was  then  the  great  fall  took 
place  in  pepper,  for  the  cantar,  which  had  previously 
cost  40  ducats,  could  afterward  be  had  for  20.  And 
yet  the  Portuguese  made  liberal  profits,  for  the  spice 
they  sold  in  Lisbon  for  20  ducats  they  bought  in  India 
for  two  or  three.  In  1509,  precisely  a  decade  after  Da 
Gama's  return  from  Calicut,  the  Portuguese  admiral 
defeated  the  Egyptian  fleet  in  the  Arabian  Sea,  estab- 
lished a  fortification  in  the  island  of  Sokotra,  and 
closed  the  Straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb  to  the  eastern 
trade.     Thus  Venice  was  cut  off. 

What  ruined  Venice  made  Antwerp.  From  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  when  the  British 
moved  the  woollen  trade  from  Bruges,  Antwerp 
gained,  but  it  only  reached  its  bloom  after  the  cen- 
tralization of  the  eastern  import  trade  at  Lisbon 
permitted  capitalists  to  concentrate  sales  in  Flanders. 
The  great  houses  bought  cargoes  of  spices  afloat  from 
the  Portuguese  government,  sent  them  to  the  Scheldt, 
and,  by  combination  among  themselves,  usually  suc- 
ceeded in  regulating  prices,  from  year  to  year,  well 
enough  to  avoid  violent  fluctuations.  Then  Antwerp 
became  not  only  the  chief  port  of  Europe,  and  the 
dominant  market  for  merchandise,  but  the  clearing- 
house for  the  world.  All  governments  which  needed 
money  looked  to  Antwerp ;  Thomas  Gresham,  Eliza- 
beth's financial  agent,  tarried  there.  Evidently  such 
a  sudden  and  considerable  increase  of  the  trade  to 


92  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

tropical  countries,  and  the  elimination  of  all  the  tem- 
perate regions  of  Asia,  greatly  stimulated  the  export 
of  specie,  and  for  fully  half  a  century  the  yield  of 
Mexico  imperfectly  balanced  this  loss.  Charles  abdi- 
cated in  1555.  In  1550,  five  years  after  the  discovery 
of  the  mines  at  Potosi,  he  was  estimated  to  have  re- 
ceived annually  only  400,000  ducats  from  America. 
Not  before  1570  did  the  Spanish  fleets  bring  very 
great  treasures  to  Cadiz.  Also  this  date  is  suggestive, 
for  Drake  sailed  on  his  buccaneering  expedition  to 
Panama  in  1572. 

Charles  I.  of  Spain,  who  afterward  was  chosen 
emperor,  owed  his  election,  and  most  of  his  other 
successes  in  life,  to  the  credit  he  enjoyed  as  Count 
of  Holland,  or  head  of  the  first  financial  state  in 
Christendom.  This  credit  won  for  him  his  first  suc- 
cess over  his  rival,  Francis  I.  of  France,  and  enabled 
him  to  continue  his  wars  long  after  Spain,  had  she 
stood  alone,  would  have  been  bankrupt. 

"  The  choice  of  Charles  of  Spain  to  be  King  of  the 
Romans  is  without  question  the  event  of  the  period 
which  has  brought  out  most  clearly  the  power  of 
money  at  that  time.  It  is  an  event  which  alone 
suffices  to  justify  the  title,  '  The  Age  of  the  Fuggers.' 
Never  would  the  German  electors  have  chosen 
Charles  had  not  the  Fuggers  intervened  for  him  with 
their  cash,  and  especially  with  their  overpowering 
credit."  1 

Charles  was  the  child  of  Phihp  the  Fair,  Archduke 
of  Austria,  and  Joanna,  the  daughter  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella.  The  son  of  a  German,  born  in  Ghent 
in  1500,  he  lived  in  the  Netherlands  until  he  inherited 

1  Das  Zeiialter  der  Fugger,  Ehrenberg,  I.,  lOO. 


in.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  93 

the  crown  of  his  grandfather  Ferdinand  in  15 16,  and 
was  Spanish  only  by  half-blood,  and  not  at  all  by 
training.  He  first  visited  Spain  in  15 17,  and  found 
Madrid  uncongenial.  He  was,  indeed,  the  product  of 
the  most  commercial  atmosphere  in  the  world.  His 
affiliations  with  the  leading  bankers  were  close.  They 
trusted  him,  as  they  never  did  his  son,  and  they  bought 
for  him  the  imperial  crown.  They  supported  him  in 
his  schemes  of  conquest,  and  when  he  admitted  failure 
by  abdication,  the  great  financial  houses  were  totter- 
ing to  their  fall. 

They  fell  in  an  effort  to  consolidate  antagonistic 
economic  systems.  The  valley  of  the  Rhine  is 
divided  from  the  valley  of  the  Rhone  by  the  ranges 
of  the  Jura  and  the  Vosges.  In  Champagne,  on  the 
flanks  of  the  Vosges,  rises  the  Meuse,  which  flows 
north  to  Namur,  where  it  unites  with  the  Sambre, 
and  then  easterly  until  it  joins  a  branch  of  the  Rhine 
above  Dordrecht.  To  the  north  the  hills  sink  into 
the  plain,  and,  on  the  confines  of  Flanders,  the 
watershed  is  almost  imperceptible,  so  much  so  that 
the  district  in  which  the  Scheldt,  the  Sambre,  and 
the  Oise  rise  was  once  probably  a  marsh.  Yet  this 
watershed,  inconsiderable  though  it  be,  has  always 
determined  the  direction  of  trade,  and  by  so  doing 
has  fixed  the  frontier  of  France.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  Bruges,  Ghent,  and  Ypres, 
lying  within  the  narrow  province  between  the  Scheldt 
and  the  sea,  were  the  three  most  important  cities  be- 
yond the  Alps  and  are  supposed  to  have  contained 
from  150,000  to  200,000  inhabitants  each.  Their 
main  industry  was  weaving  Enghsh  wool,  and  they 
sold  their  cloth  over  all  Christendom,   Egypt,   and 


94  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

central  Asia,  the  chief  brokers  being  the  Italians. 
The  commercial  interests  of  Flanders,  therefore,  did 
not  harmonize  with  the  interests  of  the  region  cen- 
tralized at  Paris,  though  possibly  most  of  the  merchan- 
dise shipped  south  passed  through  Paris  because  of 
the  flow  of  the  rivers.  This  trade-route  made  the 
Fairs  of  Champagne. 

From  the  Mediterranean,  the  Rhone,  Saone,  and 
Ouche  lead  to  Dijon  ;  or,  if  the  road  be  taken  from 
Genoa,  across  the  St.  Bernard,  it  also  ends  at  Dijon. 
Dijon,  in  the  valley  of  the  Rhone,  is  about  one 
hundred  miles  distant  from  Troyes,  in  the  valley  of 
the  Seine,  and  Troyes  and  Bar-sur-Aube,  close  by, 
are  the  southernmost  of  the  four  towns  at  which  the 
famous  Fairs  were  held.  The  other  two  were  Provins 
and  Lagny-sur-Marne.  All  these  towns  are  in  the 
valley  of  the  Seine  above  Paris;  and  just  below  Paris 
the  Oise  offered  a  waterway  leading  northeast  as  far 
as  Chauny,  about  twenty-five  miles  from  St.  Quen- 
tin.  The  interval  between  the  Oise,  the  Sambre,  and 
the  Scheldt  is  now  traversed  by  canals,  but  in  the 
Middle  Ages  portages  had  to  be  made,  and  it  was 
because  St.  Quentin  stood  on  the  Somme,  between 
the  Oise,  the  Scheldt,  and  the  Sambre,  that  it  early 
achieved  fortune.  St.  Quentin  was  the  first  French 
town  to  receive  a  communal  charter.  Ghent  lies 
a  little  less  than  one  hundred  miles  from  St. 
Quentin,  down  the  Scheldt,  and  Ghent  was  the 
capital  of  Flanders,  the  heart  of  the  manufacturing 
region  which  bought  its  raw  material  in  England, 
and  sold  the  chief  of  its  product  to  Lombards.^     On 

1  That  Flemish  trade  did  actually  pass  into  France  by  the  Scheldt  is 
demonstrated  by  the  position  of  Bapaume,  the  most  noted  custom-house 


III.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  95 

this  combination  of  trade-routes  the  social  and  polit- 
ical equilibrium  of  western  Europe  reposed  down  to 
the  accession  of  Philip  the  Fair  in  France  in  1285. 

When  Philip  came  to  the  throne,  France  was  cen- 
trahzing  rapidly.  By  the  marriage  of  Philip  with 
Jane  of  Navarre,  the  heiress  of  the  Count  of  Cham- 
pagne, Champagne  became  absorbed  in  the  kingdom, 
and  then  forthwith  the  organism,  of  which  Philip  was 
the  head,  stretched  out  along  the  highways  leading 
to  the  east,  in  the  effort  to  reduce  under  one  admin- 
istration all  the  region  between  the  Scheldt  and  the 
ocean,  which  used  the  Scheldt  as  an  avenue  to  the 
Fairs. 

Flanders,  though  a  fief  of  the  French  crown,  was, 
in  reality,  an  independent  state,  enacting  laws,  coining 
money,  administering  justice,  and  making  war  and 
peace  without  reference  to  her  feudal  superior. 
When  Philip  began  his  reign,  Guy  of  Dampierre 
was  Count  of  Flanders,  and  it  was  not  long  before 

of  the  kingdom,  which  "  was  the  point  of  transit  of  the  merchandise 
exchanged  between  the  north  and  south  of  all  western  Europe." 
(^Etude  Historiqtu  stir  les  relations  commerciales  entre  la  France  et  la 
Flandre  au  Moyen  Age,  Jules  Finot,  68.) 

Cambrai  stood  on  the  Scheldt  just  beyond  the  French  border, 
and  Bapaume  is  nearly  midway  between  Cambrai  and  St.  Quentin, 
only  somewhat  to  the  west  of  both.  The  ancient  road  seems  here  to 
have  diverged  from  the  direct  line  because  of  the  dangers  of  the  forest 
of  Arrouaise,  which  extended  from  Albert  to  the  Sambre.  (^Ibid.,  i,  2.) 
The  main  highway,  from  Arras  to  Rheims,  passed  through  Bapaume 
and  St.  Quentin.  Therefore  when  the  merchant  from  Flanders, 
travelling  to  the  Fairs  of  Champagne,  arrived  at  Bapaume,  he  chose 
his  route  south,  according  to  circumstances.  He  might  go,  for  the 
most  part,  by  boat,  or  he  might  go  by  pack-train,  but  as  even  in  the 
eighteenth  century  the  cost  of  travel  by  road  was  estimated  at  tenfold 
that  of  travel  by  canal  or  river,  it  is  fair  to  conclude  that  he  ordinarily 
preferred  the  Oise  and  Seine. 


96  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

matters  came  to  a  crisis  between  him  and  the  king. 
The  fiscal  agents  of  France  spread  themselves  over 
Flanders,  practically  setting  aside  the  local  adminis- 
tration. As  Philip's  historian  has  observed  :  "  Gui  de 
Dampierre  thus  witnessed  the  progressive  and  increas- 
ingly rapid  invasion  of  the  county  of  Flanders  by 
the  authority  and  influence  of  the  crown  of  France. 
Flanders  was  enveloped  in  its  turn  in  the  assimilat- 
ing movement,  which  was  the  mission  of  the  royalty 
forming  the  unity  of  the  French  nation,  and  the 
Count  was  not  slow  to  comprehend  that  it  was  the 
independence,  not  to  say  the  very  existence,  of  his 
crown  which  was  at  stake."  ^ 

Like  Athens  and  Corinth,  wherever  two  contig- 
uous economic  systems  thus  come  in  collision,  the 
effects  ramify  infinitely.  In  this  case  they  warped 
all  western  civilization.  War  broke  out,  and  Philip 
was  defeated  at  Courtrai  on  July  ii,  1302,  when  the 
whole  nobihty  of  France  was  annihilated.  It  was 
said  that  20,000  Frenchmen  fell,  and  but  100  Flem- 
ings. Then  a  long  period  of  confusion  followed, 
ending  with  a  prohibition  of  intercourse  by  Louis  X. 

The  routes  across  Champagne  being  closed,  com- 
merce was  obliged  to  seek  new  channels,  and  it  took 
to  the  sea.  About  1330  a  document,  addressed  by 
the  officials  of  the  Fairs  to  the  king,  stated  that  mer- 
chandise which  previously  had  passed  through  Cham- 
pagne then  went  by  ships.^ 

A  social  revolution  supervened.  The  Fairs  of 
Champagne    decayed,    as    did    the    Flemish    cities. 

1  Philippe  le  Bel  en  Flandres,  Funck-Brentano,  128. 

2  Etudes  sur  les  Foires  de  Champagne,  Premiere  Partie,  Bourquelot, 
319. 


III.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  97 

Their  impoverishment  drove  many  weavers  to  Eng- 
land, whose  emigration  stimulated  English  manu- 
factures ;  more  important  still,  Flanders,  to  resist 
France,  entered  into  the  English  alliance.  It  was 
from  Van  Artevelde  that  Edward  III.  drew  much  of  his 
strength.  "  The  struggle  of  the  Flemish  communes, 
therefore,  constituted  the  first  act  of  the  long  social 
drama  which  unrolled  itself  through  a  whole  century, 
and  which  historians  have  named  the  Hundred  Years' 
War."  1 

When  the  ocean  route  to  Italy  had  once  been 
established,  it  undersold  the  French  highways,  and 
the  Fairs  ceased  to  be  held.  The  result  was  a  great 
relative  decline  in  the  French  influence  in  Flanders, 
and  a  proportionate  increase  in  the  German ;  an 
increase  which  made  possible  the  movement  toward 
consoHdation  which  took  place  under  Charles  V, 
Like  Philip,  Charles  failed,  but  his  effort  caused  the 
long  wars  of  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  rise  in  taxation  following  thereon  occasioned 
the  revolt  of  the  Netherlands,  and  the  English 
buccaneering,  which,  by  seizing  Spanish  treasure, 
precipitated  the  mutiny  of  the  Spanish  army ;  the 
sack  of  Antwerp ;  and,  finally,  the  Armada.  Thus 
the  Rhine  and  Main,  and  the  Rhone  and  Seine, 
competing,  crippled  each  other,  and  drove  the  seat 
of  international  exchanges  into  England. 

In  the  year  1500,  although  the  routes  through 
Germany  from  Venice  were  not  frequented  as  of 
old,  they  had  not  been  abandoned,  and  the  mines  of 
Hungary,  Bohemia,  and  the  Tyrol  were  still  produc- 
tive.    South  Germany,  therefore,  was  opulent,  and 

1  Philippe  le  Bel  en  Flandres,  678. 


98  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

Augsburg  and  Nuremberg  were  its  financial  capitals. 
In  especial  the  bankers  of  Augsburg  were  famous. 
Their  affiliations  with  Brabant  were  close,  they  had 
counting-houses  in  Antwerp  which  were  often  more 
important  than  those  in  the  parent  city,  and  their 
speculations  in  the  metals  and  in  eastern  wares  were 
enormous.  They  also  formed  the  most  important 
group  of  financiers  with  whom  governments  dealt. 
Although  Charles  had  lived  in  a  mercantile  com- 
munity from  his  birth,  he  little  appreciated,  on  his 
accession  to  the  crown  of  Spain,  the  difficulties  which 
confronted  him  in  satisfying  his  ambition.  Charles 
coveted  the  Empire  as  the  first  step  toward  a  consoli- 
dation such  as  had  been  conceived  by  Charlemagne, 
and  resolved  to  buy  the  crown  of  the  King  of 
the  Romans.  Had  those  who  honored  his  drafts 
recognized  the  dimensions  of  the  undertaking,  they 
might  have  hesitated.  Charles  betrayed  his  inexpe- 
rience. On  his  way  to  Spain,  in  15 17,  he  gave  his 
ambassador  drafts  on  the  Fuggers  for  94,000  florins 
to  pay  the  electors  ;  the  money  only  to  be  delivered 
when  the  choice  had  been  made.  His  paternal 
grandfather,  the  old  Emperor  Maximilian,  understood 
his  countrymen  better.  Toward  the  end  of  his  life 
Maximilian  fell  into  such  bitter  poverty  that  Jacob 
Fugger  had  to  lend  him  3000  florins  in  15 18,  because, 
"  literally  his  Majesty  had  nothing  to  eat "  ;  accord- 
ingly no  one  esteemed  money  more  than  he,  or  felt 
less  inclined  to  waste  it;  nevertheless  Maximilian 
wrote  to  Charles  reproving  him  for  his  parsimony, 
and  warning  him  to  forward  forthwith  450,000  florins 
in  cash,  to  be  spent  on  the  spot,  else  he  would  be 
defeated. 


III.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  99 

Francis  would  have  been  a  more  formidable  com- 
petitor had  he  inspired  confidence,  but  no  one  would 
trust  him.  In  Genoa  he  could  obtain  nothing,  and  in 
Lyons  he  actually  found  the  leading  capitalists  lend- 
ing to  the  Hapsburgs.  Ultimately  he  received  a  hand- 
some gift  from  his  mother,  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme, 
who  advanced  a  sum  inadequate  to  content  the  elec- 
tors, it  is  true,  but  large  enough  to  raise  the  price  of 
votes  to  Charles. 

When  Charles,  in  his  eagerness,  declared  that  he 
would  be  King  of  the  Romans,  "  cost  what  it  might," 
he  passed  from  stinginess  to  recklessness.  He 
squandered  in  the  contest  850,000  florins,  substan- 
tially all  of  which  he  had  to  borrow,  nearly  four-fifths 
of  the  whole  amount  coming  from  the  two  Augsburg 
houses,  the  Fuggers  and  the  Welsers.  The  Fuggers 
lent  543,000  florins,  and  the  Welsers  143,000.  The 
Genoese  and  Florentines  together  contributed  only 
165,000  florins.  As  Jacob  Fugger  afterward  wrote  : 
"  It  is  well  known  and  as  clear  as  day  that  your  im- 
perial Majesty  could  never  have  obtained  the  Roman 
crown  without  my  help."  ^ 

This  election  was  the  first  trial  of  strength  be- 
tween France  and  Germany,  and  though  Germany 
prevailed,  it  was  at  a  vital  sacrifice.  To  overcome 
the  French  king,  Charles  had  to  mortgage  his  means 
unduly,  and  the  burden  he  then  assumed  impaired 
his  military  energy  throughout  his  life.  To  maintain 
his  armies  he  needed  a  large  revenue.  Spain,  a  poor 
country,  and  without  manufactures,  suffered  from  a 
constant  deficit;  Italy  yielded  little  ;  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire  cost  more  than  it  paid,  therefore  the  chief 

^  Das  Zeitalter  der  Fugger,  I.,  H2. 


100  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

burden  fell  upon  the  Netherlands,  which,  though 
rich,  saw  no  profit  in  hostilities.  The  discontent, 
afterward  culminating  in  general  revolt,  broke  out 
early.  In  1539  Charles  undertook  to  collect  from 
Ghent  a  subsidy  of  400,000  florins,  which  the  citizens 
maintained  had  not  been  lawfully  granted. 

On  February  9,  1540,  the  emperor  marched  from 
Brussels  with  10,000  men,  and  a  vast  train  of  car- 
dinals, archbishops,  bishops,  and  other  Church  digni- 
taries, besides  "  dukes,  princes,  earls,  barons,  grand 
masters,  and  seigniors,  together  with  most  of  the 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Fleece."  The  cortege  was 
reckoned  at  60,000  men  and  15,000  horses,  yet  the 
city  accommodated  all.^  Charles  made  an  example. 
He  first  executed  nineteen  ringleaders ;  then  he 
annulled  the  municipal  charters,  collecting  not  only 
the  400,000  florins,  but  150,000  more  by  way  of  fine, 
and  imposing  a  subsidy  of  6000  yearly  forever. 
Finally,  he  caused  the  deans  of  the  guilds  and  chief 
burghers,  in  their  shirts,  with  halters  round  their 
necks,  to  appear  before  him  and  pray  for  mercy.  In 
all  that  touches  the  economic  aspect  of  the  Dutch 
revolt.  Motley's  view  is  interesting,  as  he  regarded 
the  revolution  as  a  religious  phenomenon,  and  there- 
fore minimized  the  effect  of  the  pressure  of  taxation. 
Yet  even  Motley  perceived  that  Charles  was  a  finan- 
cier rather  than  a  theologian.  "  Charles  was  no 
fanatic.  It  was  the  political  heresy  which  lurked 
in  the  restiveness  of  the  religious  reformers  under 
dogma,  tradition,  and  supernatural  sanction  to  tem- 
poral power,  which  he  was  disposed  to  combat  to 
the   death."  2     If   Charles   had   continued    to   reign, 

1  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  ed.  of  David  McKay,  I.,  69. 

2  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  I.,  123. 


III.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  lOI 

affairs  might  have  turned  differently,  could  he  have 
controlled  them.  Perhaps  he  felt  his  grasp  relaxing, 
and  for  this  reason  withdrew.  As  early  as  1550  the 
world  recognized  that  consoHdation  had  failed,  and 
the  bankers,  with  one  accord,  sought  to  liquidate. 
As  the  Spanish  influence  gradually  obtained  the 
upper  hand,  the  financiers  grew  uneasy.  In  1553 
Anthony  Fugger  complained  of  the  methods  at 
Madrid.  He  detested  and  distrusted  Erasso,  the 
Spanish  financial  agent,  intimating  that  if  Erasso 
still  found  means  of  doing  business,  it  could  only  be 
on  ruinous  conditions.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  declare 
that  if  the  Court  broke  faith  when  payment  had  been 
solemnly  promised,  a  gift  to  Erasso  of  1000  florins 
"  would  make  things  go."  He  added  :  "  I  have  little 
taste  for  such  business ;  having  had  enough  of  it."  ^ 

When  things  reached  this  pass,  Charles  convened 
the  Estates  of  the  Netherlands  on  October  25,  1555, 
and  surrendered  the  crown  to  his  son  PhiHp,  who  was 
a  true  Spaniard.  Doubtless  the  public  regret  was 
sincere;  "there  beyng  in  myne  opynion  not  one  man 
in  the  whole  assemblie,  stranger  or  another,  that 
dewring  the  tyme  of  a  good  piece  of  his  oration 
poured  not  oute  abondantly  teares ;  some  more, 
some  less."^  The  community  instinctively  compre- 
hended its  danger.  The  bulk  of  the  population  of 
the  Netherlands  was  not  Protestant,  nor  did  it  object 
to  the  extirpation  of  heresy,  provided  business  re- 
mained unmolested.  What  the  Dutch  resisted  was 
oppressive    taxation   whether  by    Church   or   State. 

^  Das  Zeitaltfr  der  Fugger,  I.,  1 55-6. 

2  Despatch  of  Sir  John  Mason,  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  Thomas 
Gresham,  Burgon,  I.,  1 75. 


102  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

Motley  also  has  admitted  that  of  the  seventeen 
provinces,  as  late  as  1576,  "fifteen  were,  on  the 
whole,  loyal  to  the  king ;  while  the  old  religion  had, 
of  late  years,  taken  root  so  rapidly  again,  that  perhaps 
a  moiety  of  their  population  might  be  considered  as 
Catholic."  1 

Holland  and  Zealand  were  of  the  Reformed  Faith, 
but  they  were  poor  and  maritime,  and  even  in  Hol- 
land the  capital  sided  with  Philip.  The  Prince  of 
Orange  thought  that  the  defection  of  Amsterdam 
injured  the  patriots  more  than  the  campaigns  of 
Alva.  Most  modern  authorities,  therefore,  agree  that 
financial  distress,  rather  than  religious  persecution, 
occasioned  the  war.  Mr.  A.  J.  Crosby,  the  editor  of 
the  British  State  Papers  relating  to  this  period,  is  a 
good  example.  "  Brabant  and  the  rest  of  the  provinces 
which  depended  on  their  manufactures  and  were  in- 
finitely more  wealthy  and  pleasant  to  live  in  [than 
Holland  and  Zealand]  were  for  the  most  part  Catho- 
lic, and  it  was  on  account  of  its  avarice  and  tyranny 
that  they  disliked  the  Spanish  rule,  and  not  through 
its  interference  with  their  religion,  which  was  prob- 
ably not  so  great  as  is  usually  imagined."  ^ 

The  abdication  of  the  emperor,  therefore,  a  Flem- 
ing who  understood  the  material  interests  of  his  native 
country,  and  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  conserva- 
tive class,  caused  regret.  While  he  ruled,  the  revo- 
lution might  be  postponed,  with  his  abdication  the 
catastrophe  began.  Like  Charlemagne  he  foresaw 
the  magnitude  of  the  crisis. 

Charles  V.  left  so  serious  a  deficit,  that  Philip  after- 

1  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  III.,  6o. 

^  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Foreign,  1575-1577-     Preface,  xiv. 


III.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  IO3 

ward  declared  that  he  could  never  have  paid  the 
floating  debt,  though  he  would  gladly  have  done  so 
"even  with  his  blood."  During  the  next  two  years 
difficulties  thickened;  panic  prevailed  in  Antwerp, 
and  the  Fuggers,  whether  they  would  or  no,  were 
forced  to  intervene.  By  a  contract  dated  February  i, 
1556,  Anthony  Fugger  agreed  to  deliver  to  Philip,  in 
Spain,  400,000  ducats  in  cash,  to  pay  his  troops  and 
relieve  his  other  necessities,  taking  as  security  there- 
for such  personal  obligations  as  the  king  could  find 
in  the  Netherlands,  beside  the  pledge  of  the  first 
"aid"  which  should  be  voted  by  the  Estates.  Only 
three  months  later  the  Fuggers  made  another  ad- 
vance of  600,000  ducats,  and  in  the  beginning  of 
1557  Oertel,  the  Fuggers'  agent  in  Antwerp,  lent 
an  additional  430,000  ducats,  to  be  repaid  with  the 
next  bullion  which  should  come  from  America.  Yet, 
in  spite  of  favors,  the  Spaniards  hated  their  credit- 
ors more  every  day.  Oertel  wrote  to  Anthony  Fug- 
ger :  "  I  doubt  whether  I  shall  succeed  in  making 
Erasso  our  friend,  for  I  have  never  met  his  like ;  one 
who  always  flatters  you  before  your  face  and  vilifies 
you  behind  your  back."  "  He  and  his  say  to  who- 
ever will  listen  to  them,  that  one  has  with  nobody  so 
much  vexation  and  so  little  advantage  as  with  us."  ^ 
Such  expedients  could  only  be  temporary,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1557  Phihp  suspended  payments.  At  the 
moment,  he  happened  to  be  forwarding  two  invoices 
of  specie  to  the  amount  of  570,000  ducats  to  the  Fug- 
gers in  Flanders,  and  the  stoppage  of  the  shipment 
filled  Anthony  with  wrath.  Oertel  implored  the  king 
to  keep  his  word,  and  intimated  that  he  would  inter- 

^Das  Zeitalter  der  Fugger,  I.,  162. 


104  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

cede  with  the  firm  to  assist  him  further,  but  Erasso 
retorted  that  Anthony  Fugger  had  already  begged 
the  Emperor  Charles  not  to  worry  him  about  more 
loans,  for  he  wished  to  be  left  in  peace.  In  vain  Oer- 
tel  indignantly  declared  that  his  employers  had  not 
left  the  king  in  his  need,  but  in  eighteen  months  had 
advanced  a  million  and  a  half  of  gold ;  the  king  twice 
told  the  factor  "  that  he  did  it  as  unwillingly  as  he 
ever  did  anything,  but  necessity  constrained  him,  since 
he  could  not  fall  into  discredit  with  the  soldiers." 
Philip  reahzed  his  danger.  Of  all  the  peoples  of  the 
modern  world  the  Spanish  retained  most  of  the  Ro- 
man characteristics.  They  possessed  the  same  cour- 
age, the  same  military  qualities,  the  same  patience 
under  hardship ;  but  they  inherited  also  the  same 
cruelty,  the  same  incapacity  for  industry  and  the 
higher  branches  of  finance,  and  the  same  intellectual 
rigidity.  The  Spaniards  could  not  assimilate  new 
ideas.  They  could  not  think  otherwise  than  they 
had  always  thought.  They  were  a  primitive  type. 
Being  orthodox,  they  could  not  compound  with 
heresy,  however  heavy  the  cost  of  persecution ;  and, 
when  confronted  with  insolvency,  instead  of  making 
a  bargain  with  the  Dutch  by  way  of  compromise, 
their  instinct,  like  the  instinct  of  all  archaic  mankind, 
was  to  plunder.  To  them  it  seemed  cheaper  to 
rob.  Philip  determined  to  send  Alva  to  Brussels 
to  replenish  his  treasury  by  confiscations  and  to 
reduce  the  population  so  low  they  would  submit  to 
taxation  at  the  discretion  of  the  cabinet  at  Madrid. 
Alva  arrived  on  August  22,  1567.  Even  before  his 
coming,  the  measures  taken  had  stimulated  emigra- 
tion on  a  large  scale.     On  the  twenty-ninth  of  the 


m.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  IO5 

previous  March,  Richard  Clough,  Thomas  Gresham's 
agent,  wrote  :  "  It  is  marveylus  to  see  how  the  pepell 
packe  away  from  hens ;  some  for  one  place  and  some 
for  other,  so  well  the  papysts  as  the  protestants ;  for 
that  it  is  thought  that,  howsomever  it  goeth,  it  cannot 
go  well  here ;  for  that  presently  all  the  wealthy  and 
rich  men  on  both  sydes,  who  shuld  be  the  stey  of 
matters,  make  themselves  away."  ^ 

Alva  promised  Philip  that  he  would  not  only  make 
the  Netherlands  self-supporting,  but  yield  annually 
at  least  2,000,000  ducats.  He  proceeded  to  raise 
the  money  as  Milo  would  have  done.  He  organized 
a  supreme  tribunal,  afterward  called  the  Council  of 
Blood,  to  take  cognizance  of  all  offences  which  had 
been  committed  since  the  troubles  in  the  Netherlands 
began.  "The  greatest  crime,  however,  was  to  be 
rich,  and  one  which  could  be  expiated  by  no  virtues, 
however  signal.  Alva  was  bent  upon  proving  him- 
self as  accomplished  a  financier  as  he  was  indisputably 
a  consummate  commander,  and  he  had  promised  his 
master  an  annual  income  of  500,000  ducats  from  the 
confiscations  which  were  to  accompany  the  executions. 
.  .  .  Every  man,  whether  innocent  or  guilty, 
whether  Papist  or  Protestant,  felt  his  head  shaking 
on  his  shoulders.  If  he  were  wealthy,  there  seemed 
no  remedy  but  flight."  ^ 

Such  severity  provoked  an  emigration  to  England, 
which  ended  in  transferring  thither  many  of  the 
most  lucrative  trades  of  the  continent.  As  early  as 
July,  1 567,  Clough  noted  the  movement,  and  wished 
to  encourage  it.     He  wrote :  "  They  that  were  wont 

^  TAe  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  II.,  209. 
"^  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  II.,  152. 


I06  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

to  live  by  making  of  powdyr,  are  now  undone :  wish- 
ing that  and  if  they  would  come  into  Englande  they 
might  have  a  place  appointed  to  make  powdyr  .  .  . 
Which  if  they  had,  I  wolde  not  doubt  but  they  wolde 
go  into  Englande ;  and  where  they  go,  the  great 
quantity  of  salpeter  and  brymstone  wyll  follow."  ^ 
The  same  year  the  Bishop  of  London  took  a  census 
of  the  strangers  in  the  capital,  and  found,  of  4851 
foreigners,  3838  to  be  Dutch.  This  occurred  before 
the  creation  of  the  Council  of  Blood.  The  publica- 
tion of  the  British  State  Papers^  leaves  little  room 
for  doubt  that  Alva  represented  tolerably  exactly  the 
views  of  Spanish  society,  and  Alva's  mental  processes 
were  those  of  such  a  race  as  that  which  produced 
Jenghiz  Khan.  On  returning  to  Madrid  he  boasted 
that  he  had  executed  18,600  persons,  and  confiscated 
their  property  ;  and,  on  relinquishing  his  government, 
he  recommended  the  burning  of  all  Dutch  cities  save 
such  as  might  be  needed  for  barracks. 

Men  of  this  type  can  hardly  administer  successfully 
a  commercial  or  industrial  community,  but  they  often 
make  good  soldiers,  and  the  Spanish  would  have 
found  little  difficulty  in  subduing  Holland,  could  they 
have  guarded  their  communications.  The  resistance 
they  met  in  the  field  was  contemptible.  All  the 
evidence  shows  that  Brabant  and  Flanders  bred  but 
sorry  material  for  armies.  In  the  maritime  provinces 
alone,  where  a  hardy  seafaring  population  throve, 
was  there  any  fighting  worthy  of  the  name. 

Spain's  vulnerable  point  lay  in  her  decentraliza- 
tion.    Like  Charlemagne's  empire,  pirates  could  cut 

"^  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  Burgon,  2,  241. 
2  See  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Foreign,  1575-1577,  No.  1165. 


HI.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  10/ 

her  asunder.  Conducting  a  war  upon  the  German 
Ocean,  Philip  had  to  transport  his  suppHes  by  sea 
from  Cadiz  to  Antwerp,  and  his  treasure  from  Mexico 
to  the  Scheldt.  He  had  not  the  funds  to  maintain 
both  an  adequate  army  and  navy,  and  in  making  the 
attempt  to  do  so  each  suffered.  The  English  pro- 
portionately prospered,  for  the  English  worked  their 
factories  with  fugitive  Dutch  labor,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  their  opulence  with  American  silver 
won  by  buccaneering. 

The  sequence  of  dates  is  suggestive ;  when  EUza- 
beth  came  to  the  throne  in  1558,  England  possessed 
only  about  50,000  tons  of  shipping,  while  Spain  and 
Portugal  held  a  substantial  monopoly  of  the  trade 
both  to  India  and  America.  Alva  reached  Brussels 
in  August,  1567,  just  at  the  moment  when  the  export 
of  Peruvian  silver  was  assuming  large  proportions, 
and  offering  a  correspondingly  strong  temptation  to 
pirates.  During  Alva's  residence  in  Flanders,  com- 
petition at  sea  steadily  gathered  intensity,  until,  at  its 
close  in  1573,  it  had  reached  the  ferocity  of  war. 
Drake's  expeditions  were  distinctly  naval  campaigns. 
This  competition  caused  the  mutiny  of  the  Spanish 
army.  The  mutiny  forced  Philip  to  protect  his  lines 
of  communication  by  attacking  his  enemy's  base,  and 
Phihp's  attack  took  the  form  of  the  Armada,  which 
was  destroyed  in  1588.  Spain  eliminated  from  the 
trade-routes,  her  rivals  occupied  them.  The  British 
organized  their  East  India  Company  on  December 
3i>  1599.  with  a  capital  of  ^80,000;  the  Dutch  theirs 
in  1602  with  a  capital  of  6,600,000  florins,  or  about 
;!^3 16,000;  and  these  sums,  probably,  pretty  nearly 
represented  the  relative  resources  of  London  and 
Amsterdam. 


I08  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

The  Spanish  ships  were  large  and  slow,  high  out 
of  water,  and  incapable  of  beating  to  windward. 
They  were  therefore  easy  to  attack  and  unable  to  re- 
taliate. They  were  laden  with  goods,  bullion,  and  men. 
A  mixed  fleet  of  privateers,  sailing  under  commissions 
issued  by  the  Prince  of  Orange,  used  Dover  as  a 
base,  and  there,  on  certain  market  days,  these  Dutch, 
French,  and  English  rovers  sold  Spanish  gentlemen  at 
auction  for  their  ransom.  They  brought  about  p^ioo  a 
head.  Alva  passed  six  years  in  Brabant,  from  August, 
1567,  to  December,  1573,  and  during  his  regency  the 
losses  must  have  been  enormous.  The  Spanish  mer- 
chants set  their  damages  at  upwards  of  3,000,000 
ducats,  and  finally  declined  to  contract  to  supply  the 
army,  but,  aside  from  this,  tons  of  bullion  fell  into  Eng- 
lish hands.  In  1568  Philip's  credit  was  bad;  never- 
theless, he  succeeded  in  obtaining  450,000  ducats 
in  Genoa,  which  he  despatched  to  Alva  to  pay  his 
troops.  French  privateers  chased  the  ships  bearing 
the  treasure  into  south  of  England  ports,  where  Eliz- 
abeth appropriated  it.  Sir  Thomas  Gresham  coined 
it  for  domestic  use,  "  and  so  with  the  said  monney, 
her  Majestic  male  paie  her  debtes  both  here  and  in 
Flaunders,  ...  to  the  great  honour  and  credit  of  her 
Majestic  throughout  all  Christendom."  Shortly  after- 
ward Gresham  announced  to  Cecil,  "  I  left  order 
with  my  servant.  Hew  Clowghe,  to  deliver  at  his 
comyng,  V  sackes  of  new  Spannyshe  Ryalls ;  .  .  . 
at  the  Towre  ...  in  good  secrcat  order,"  willing 
his  man  "  to  saye  .  .  .  that  the  more  expedyssone  he 
did  use  in  the  coinage,  the  more  profytable  servyze 
he  shuld  doo  to  the  Queene's  Majestic."  ^ 

"^Life  and  Times  of  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  Burgon,  II,,  305-306. 


in.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  IO9 

As  the  American  silver  trade  grew  in  value,  the 
onslaught  waxed  hotter.  In  1572  Drake  sailed  on  his 
famous  voyage  to  Panama,  where  he  surprised,  on 
the  isthmus,  a  mule  train  loaded  with  silver.  The 
silver  he  buried,  as  of  inferior  value,  but  freighted 
his  ships  with  gold  and  jewels.  What  he  realized  no 
one  ever  knew.  And  Drake  was  only  one  of  scores 
who  sucked  the  Spaniard's  blood.  After  six  years  of 
service  Philip  recalled  Alva,  not  because  he  objected 
to  Alva's  methods,  but  because  Alva  failed  to  make 
the  provinces  pay.  In  spite  of  confiscations  and 
sacks,  the  budget,  instead  of  showing  a  surplus,  showed 
a  chronic  deficit.  When  Alva  left  Brussels  the 
arrears  due  to  the  troops  amounted  to  6,500,000 
ducats,  the  payment  of  one-half  of  which  would  have 
maintained  discipline.  Probably  Spain  lost  annually 
at  least  3,000,000  ducats  by  piracy.  In  Holland,  not 
only  private  soldiers  but  officers  high  in  rank  were 
straitened.  Alva  himself  kept  his  bed  during  the 
last  weeks  of  his  government  to  escape  his  creditors. 
The  arteries  being  cut,  the  organism  bled  to  death. 
Therefore,  "after  the  arrival  of  a  fleet  at  Seville  the 
American  silver  flowed  through  the  land  like  water, 
not  fertihzing,  but,  on  the  contrary,  wasting  it,  and 
leaving  even  sharper  dearth  behind."-^ 

At  last  the  blow  fell  suddenly.  Toward  the  begin- 
ning of  August,  1576,  news  reached  Madrid  that 
affairs  in  the  north  had  reached  a  crisis.  A  mutiny 
had  broken  out.  The  soldiers  threatened  to  sack  the 
whole  country.  Philip  felt  the  supreme  moment  had 
come,  and  appealed  to  the  Fuggers  to  save  him. 

The    Contador,    Garnica,    demanded    of    Thomas 

^  Das  Zeitalter  der  Fugger,  II.,  150. 


no  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

M tiller,  the  Fuggers'  agent,  that  he  should  send 
200,000  crowns  to  the  Netherlands ;  "  the  Fuggers 
must  not  abandon  the  king  in  his  need."  If  the 
troops  were  not  satisfied,  the  provinces  would  be 
lost,  and  the  Fuggers  would  be  responsible.  As  soon 
as  the  soldiers  saw  the  Fuggers'  bills,  Garnica  de- 
clared, they  would  wait  with  patience  until  the  ducats 
came.  An  answer  must  be  given  in  the  morning. 
Nevertheless,  he  sent  again  the  same  night  to  say 
that  the  Fuggers  must  pay,  else  Miiller  knew  what 
would  happen  to  them.  When  Miiller  replied  that 
the  Fuggers  had  truly  served  the  king,  and  that  he 
knew  not  what  could  befall  them,  Garnica  pulled  out 
a  cross,  kissed  it,  and  said,  "  I  swear  by  the  holy 
cross  if  Flanders  is  lost  for  want  of  money  it  will 
be  their  fault."  The  factor  then  visited  President 
Hopper,  and  asked  his  advice ;  but  Hopper  took  the 
part  of  Garnica,  and  adjured  Miiller  for  the  love  of 
God  to  prove  what  true  servants  of  the  king  the 
Fuggers  were.  By  so  doing,  they  would  put  not 
only  Philip,  but  the  whole  Netherlands,  under  an 
eternal  debt  of  gratitude.^ 

That  same  night  the  king  wrote  to  the  factor,  and 
declared  in  council,  that  no  one  but  the  Fuggers 
could  help  him  in  this  pinch,  and  that  this  should  be 
the  last  service  he  would  ask  of  them.  Miiller  was 
harassed  ;  for,  though  feeling  no  confidence  in  Spain, 
he  feared  to  ahenate  Philip,  lest  he  should  include 
the  Fuggers'  loans  in  a  second  declaration  of  insol- 
vency which  he  had  issued  in  1575-  These  loans 
exceeded  5,000,000  ducats.  Therefore,  in  order  not 
to  "  spill  the  broth  altogether,"  he  agreed  to  send  the 

^  Das  Zeitalter  der  Fugger,  I.,  1 80. 


in.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  III 

200,000  crowns.  Philip,  overjoyed,  thought  the  dan- 
ger past,  and  expressed  his  gratitude  ;  but  the  loan 
came  too  late.  On  November  4,  1576,  the  garrison 
of  Antwerp  sacked  the  town.  That  they  succeeded, 
and  succeeded  almost  without  loss,  displays  the  mili- 
tary inaptitude  of  the  population.  The  citizens  had 
full  notice  of  the  plans  of  the  mutineers,  they  had  the 
support  of  the  government,  abundant  funds,  arms, 
and  competent  officers.  They  even  undertook  to 
reduce  the  citadel  where  the  troops  were  quartered. 
Yet  at  the  first  onset  of  their  enemy  they  fled  in  such 
disgraceful  rout  that,  during  the  whole  day,  but  two 
hundred  Spaniards  fell,  while  more  Flemings  were 
slaughtered  in  the  streets  than  were  Huguenots  in 
the  streets  of  Paris  in  the  massacre  of  Saint  Barthol- 
omew, All  told,  the  mutineers  numbered  less  than 
6000  men. 

Antwerp  itself  was  partially  burned  and  altogether 
ruined.  Capital  fled,  and  the  town  ceased  to  be  a 
dominant  market.  The  experience  of  the  Fuggers 
shows  how  business  suffered,  and  explains  what 
Garnica  meant  when  he  urged  them  to  befriend  the 
king  lest  worse  should  befall  them.  During  the  sack 
the  Fuggers'  factor  was  taken  and  had  to  pay  11,000 
crowns  as  ransom ;  furthermore  the  firm  lost  ;^2000 
which  it  had  placed  on  deposit,  and  lastly  one 
Colonel  Fugger,  a  relative  of  the  family,  who  had 
gone  to  Flanders  to  serve  under  Alva,  in  command 
of  an  Augsburg  regiment,  presented  himself  and  de- 
manded 50,000  crowns  as  the  price  of  his  protection. 
As  the  officials  in  Madrid  had  foreseen,  the  mutiny 
proved  decisive.  A  brilliant  campaign  had  just  ended 
in  Zealand.     The  town  of  Zierickzee,  in  the  heart  of 


112  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

Protestant  Holland,  had  fallen  after  a  long  siege,  but 
when  the  troops  deserted,  the  Prince  of  Orange 
quickly  recovered  all  that  had  been  lost.  For  the 
Fuggers,  too,  the  end  had  well  nigh  come.  Although 
they  escaped  being  included  in  the  decree  of  Septem- 
ber I,  1575,  suspending  payments  to  creditors,  they 
were  too  deeply  involved  to  extricate  themselves. 

And  now  all  men  saw  that  either  Spain  or  Eng- 
land must  succumb.  The  mutiny  illuminated  the 
future  even  to  Spanish  eyes.  If  Spain  were  to  remain 
the  heart  of  an  organism  of  which  Mexico  and  the 
Netherlands  were  the  members,  she  must  protect 
the  arteries  through  which  her  life-blood  flowed. 
England  had  cut  those  arteries,  and  hence  a  convul- 
sion which  portended  dissolution. 

Philip,  like  Xerxes,  comprehended  at  last  that,  for 
his  country  to  live,  his  rival  must  be  destroyed ;  but, 
like  all  Spaniards,  he  thought  too  slowly.  Already 
capital  had  migrated,  and  long  before  1588  the  Brit- 
ish owned  the  means  at  home  to  repel  attack.  The 
nation  had  ceased  to  be  dependent  upon  foreign 
loans  for  funds  to  maintain  an  armament.  Until  the 
overthrow  of  credit  upon  the  continent,  the  English 
government  had  borrowed  abroad,  latterly  in  Flan- 
ders, and  Sir  Thomas  Gresham  had  managed  their 
negotiations  with  skill ;  but,  as  the  resources  of 
Antwerp  sank,  Gresham  observed  that  those  of  Lon- 
don rose,  until  he  became  convinced  that  domestic 
accumulations  had  reached  the  desired  point.  Ac- 
cordingly he  advised  Cecil  to  apply  to  the  "  Mer- 
chant-Adventurers." "  Assuring  you.  Sir,  I  do  know 
for  certain,  that  the  Duke  de  Alva  is  more  trowblid 
with  the  Queene's  Majestie's  gret  credit,  and  with  the 


III.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  II3 

vent  of  her  highness'  commodities  at  Hamborough, 
than  he  is  with  anny  thing  else,  and  quakes  for  f eare  : 
whiche  is  one  of  the  chifest  things  that  is  the  let 
that  the  said  Duke  cannot  com  by  the  tenth  penny 
that  he  now  demaundeth  for  the  sale  of  all  goods, 
anny  kind  of  waye,  in  the  Low  Country  (which,  Sir, 
I  beleve  will  be  his  utter  undoing.)  Therefore,  Sir, 
to  conclude,  I  would  wishe  that  the  Queene's  Maj- 
estie  in  this  time  shuld  not  use  anny  strangers,  but 
her  own  subjects ;  wherbie  he,  and  all  other  princes, 
male  see  what  a  Prince  of  power  she  ys."  ^ 

It  would  be  needless  here  to  repeat  the  story  of  the 
Armada,  which  is  known  to  every  child.  It  suffices 
to  say  that  with  Drake's  victory  off  Calais,  on 
August  9,  1588,  a  readjustment  of  the  social  equilib- 
rium began,  which  gradually  moulded  that  mighty 
economic  system  whose  heart,  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years,  lay  upon  the  Thames.  On  that  day, 
also,  the  organism  which  had  centred  at  Venice  and 
in  Flanders,  which  had  given  birth  to  the  Augsburg 
bankers  and  the  Hanseatic  League,  received  its  death 
wound,  and  the  long  strife  opened  between  Holland, 
England,  and  France  for  the  command  of  the  oceanic 
eastern  trade. 

These  facts  seem  to  justify  the  conclusion  that  the 
centre  of  energy  was  forced  from  the  continent  of 
Europe  into  England  because  of  the  physical  struc- 
ture of  the  peninsula,  which  precluded  consolidation, 
and  therefore  encouraged  war.  War  is  economic 
competition  in  its  sharpest  aspect;  but  parallel  eco- 
nomic systems  connecting  common  termini  must 
consohdate  or  compete.     The  continent  of  Europe, 

^  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  II.,  340. 
J 


114  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

cut  into  transverse  sections  by  trade-routes  which  did 
not  converge,  could  not  consolidate,  and  therefore 
has  been  subject  to  such  catastrophes  as  the  sack  of 
Antwerp. 

I  have  elsewhere  attempted  to  describe  the  rise  of 
the  English  Empire,^  and  accordingly  need  here  only 
indicate  the  form  which  that  empire  has  assumed. 
It  is  an  economic  system  connecting  Asia  and  Amer- 
ica by  way  of  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  In  other  words,  England  accomplished  on  a 
great  scale,  by  means  of  water  communications,  what 
Alexander  failed  in  doing  on  a  small,  because  of  the 
cost  of  overland  routes.  From  Hindustan  the  Eng- 
lish system  stretches,  by  way  of  Egypt  and  South 
Africa,  the  two  stopping-places  on  its  two  lines  of 
travel,  to  the  British  Islands,  which  have  served  not 
only  as  a  centre  of  exchanges,  but  as  a  focus  of 
industry,  because  of  their  minerals.  Thence  it 
spread  over  North  America,  which  afforded  an  ex- 
panding market.  The  United  States  was  politically 
severed  from  this  system  by  the  Revolution  of  1776, 
but  continued  economically  to  appertain  to  it  until 
of  late  it  has  begun  to  assume  the  aspect  of  the 
heart  of  a  new  organism.  It  is  also  worth  observing 
that  the  success  of  the  American  Revolution,  like  the 
success  of  the  Dutch,  hinged  on  European  rivalries. 
Had  not  England  and  France  been  competing  for 
the  same  trade  between  the  same  termini,  and  had 
the  colonies  been  unaided  by  French  money,  troops, 
and  ships,  England  might  probably  have  suppressed 
the  rebellion. 

The  loss  of  the  American  colonies  accentuates  the 

1  See  The  Law  of  Civilization  and  Decay. 


in.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  II5 

fact  that  England  rose  slowly  to  supremacy,  and  that 
until  she  developed  her  minerals  she  did  not  reach 
maturity.  It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  she  would 
have  prevailed  against  imperial  France  had  she  relied 
solely  upon  commerce  as  the  source  of  wealth,  or 
even  upon  such  manufactures  as  she  could  conduct 
without  fully  utilizing  her  iron  and  coal.  Her  high 
fortune  came  with  the  "  industrial  revolution,"  which 
began  in  1760,  and  which,  by  1800,  enabled  her  to 
undersell  Sweden  and  France  in  iron  and  steel,  and 
India  in  cotton.  It  was  this  combination  of  advan- 
tages which  gave  England  the  energy  to  conquer 
and  retain  under  a  single  administration  that  system 
of  trade-routes,  of  bases  of  supply  and  markets, 
which  encircled  two-thirds  of  the  globe,  and  which 
raised  her,  during  the  nineteenth  century,  to  an  emi- 
nence unequalled  since  the  disintegration  of  Rome. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  all  the  advantages  attending  ocean 
transportation,  land  traffic  between  Asia  and  Europe 
never  wholly  ceased.  It  probably  fell  lowest  during 
the  Mongol  domination,  but  with  the  migration  of 
energy  to  the  shores  of  the  North  Sea  it  received  a 
stimulus  which,  slowly  gathering  strength,  has  cre- 
ated another  vast  empire  based  on  the  continental 
thoroughfares  which  connect  China,  Turkestan,  and 
Persia  with  the  Atlantic.  In  fine,  the  growth  of  Rus- 
sia was  supplementary  to  the  growth  of  England,  and 
obeyed  similar  laws. 


CHAPTER   IV 

Speaking  broadly,  the  modem  Russian  Empire  is 
formed  by  the  consolidation  of  a  series  of  river  val- 
leys running  north  and  south,  but  connected  through 
their  branches  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  an  almost 
unbroken  waterway  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Lake  Bai- 
kal. From  Baikal  the  Amur  completes  the  system  to 
the  Pacific.  Centring  at  Moscow,  these  natural  trade- 
routes  radiate  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel.  To  the 
north,  by  way  of  the  Volga  and  Vologda,  the  Dwina, 
Archangel  and  the  Arctic  are  reached;  while  from 
Vologda  the  Suchona  and  Witchegda  lead  to  the  Pet- 
chora  and  the  fur-bearing  region  of  the  Samoieds. 
To  the  south  the  Oka  and  the  Don  stretch  to  the  Sea 
of  Azov.  To  the  southwest  the  Oka  and  the  Volga 
flow  to  the  Caspian;  while  directly  eastward  the 
Volga  communicates  with  the  Kama,  and  the  Kama 
by  an  easy  portage  with  the  rivers  of  Siberia. 

Under  such  geographical  conditions  commerce 
flows  as  readily  to  a  northern  as  to  a  southern  mar- 
ket, and,  since  the  opening  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the 
social  system  of  the  empire  has  adjusted  itself  to  both. 
Until  about  1150  a.d.,  when  the  countries  bordering 
upon  the  North  Sea  acquired  a  certain  opulence,  the 
Euxine  and  the  Bosphorus  afforded  the  only  out- 
let for  exchanges.  Accordingly,  Kieff,  upon  the 
Dnieper,  became  the  seat  of  administration,  and 
merchants    journeyed   to   Constantinople   along   the 

116 


CHAP.  IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  II7 

avenues  which  offered  the  least  resistance.  These 
avenues  were  the  three  rivers  flowing  south,  the  Volga, 
the  Don,  and  the  Dnieper,  the  Volga  being  utilized 
through  the  short  portage  at  Zaritzin  which  connects 
it  with  the  Don,  and  by  which  the  Sea  of  Azov  is 
easily  reached. 

The  chronology  thenceforward  tells  the  story  with 
absolute  clearness.  The  first  dated  document  relating 
to  the  Fairs  of  Champagne,  which  became  the  north- 
ern centre  of  exchanges,  is  of  11 14  a.d.  Liibeck  was 
founded  in  1 143.  Therefore,  by  1150,  the  thorough- 
fare through  the  Baltic  was  estabhshed.  According 
to  Gibbon,  Constantinople  reached  her  zenith  dur- 
ing the  third  quarter  of  the  tenth  century,  under 
Nicephorus  Phocas  and  John  Zimisces.  Zimisces 
died  in  976.  Contemporaneously,  Kiev's  great  era 
opened  with  Saint  Vladimir  in  972,  and  ended  with 
laroslaf  the  Great,  who  reigned  until  1054.  After 
1 100,  or  with  the  rise  of  the  Fairs  of  Champagne, 
Kieff's  decline  set  in,  and  in  1169,  twenty-six  years 
subsequent  to  the  foundation  of  Liibeck,  the  town 
was  sacked  by  the  Prince  of  Suzdalia,  the  predecessor 
of  the  Czars  of  Moscow.  This  proves  that  the  north- 
ern routes  had  then  acquired  an  importance  equal  to 
the  southern.  Nevertheless,  they  did  not  decisively 
preponderate,  for  Venice  and  Genoa  were  as  good 
customers  as  Liibeck  and  Bruges.  Therefore  a 
period  as  it  were  of  slack-water  intervened,  when, 
in  the  words  of  Rambaud,  "  Russia  ceased  to  have  a 
centre  about  which  she  gravitated  as  a  mass."^  Not 
having  a  central  administration,  Russian  society  dis- 
integrated, and  the  Mongol  domination  ensued.     The 

^  Histoire  de  la  Russie,  90. 


Il8  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

battle  of  the  Kalka  was  fought  in  1224,  toward  1285 
the  Golden  Horde  permanently  established  them- 
selves in  the  south,  and  Batu  built  Sarai. 

The  Mongols  controlled  the  southern  route  from 
Lake  Baikal  to  the  Black  Sea  by  Samarkand  and 
Trebizond,  as  well  as  the  one  which  leads  by  the  Syr- 
Daria  to  Sarai  and  the  Azov.  From  the  earliest 
times  these  roads  had  thus  debouched,  and  the  traffic 
upon  them  had  made  the  fortune  of  the  Greek  cities 
of  the  Euxine  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries 
before  Christ.  The  Mongols  adhered  to  the  ancient 
paths.  Friar  John  of  Plan  de  Carpine,  who  in  1246 
carried  to  the  Grand  Khan  a  letter  from  the  Pope, 
went  close  to  the  head  of  the  Sea  of  Azov,  then 
passed  near  Sarai,  then,  skirting  the  Aral  and  follow- 
ing the  Syr-Daria,  he  rode  almost  due  east  to  Kara- 
korum.  William  of  Rubruck  was  taken  over  much  of 
the  same  ground,  only  he  crossed  the  Don  higher  up, 
and  left  the  Volga  not  very  far  from  Zaritza.^ 

The  books  of  travel  all  show  that  the  Mongol  trans- 
portation was  good,  and  that  they  moved  rapidly. 
Timour's  posting  service  was  famous,  and  Gonzalez 
de  Clavijo,  in  1404,  found  the  road  from  Trebizond 
to  Samarkand  better  equipped  than  Russian  high- 
ways have  usually  been  up  to  the  introduction  of 
steam. 

Russian  society  remained  in  this  fluid  condition  until 
it  received  an  impulse  toward  centralization  through 
the  rise  to  supremacy  of  the  markets  on  the  German 
Ocean.     The  movement  in  this  direction  began  after 

^Journey  of  Friar  William  of  Rubruck  to  the  Eastern  Parti  of  the 
World,  1 253-1 255.  Edited  by  Hon.  W.  W.  Rockhill,  Hakluyt  Soc. 
Publication,  Second  Series  No.  IV. 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  II9 

mariners  had  overcome  their  fear  of  the  ocean  voyage 
beyond  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar. 

In  1 3 17  a  regular  packet  service  was  established 
between  Flanders  and  Venice,  and  the  following 
table  of  receipts  of  the  fairs  of  Saint  John  of  Troyes 
shows  the  diminution  of  revenue,  through  a  series  of 
years. 

In  1275  the  fair  yielded  1300  livres. 

In  1296  the  fair  yielded  1375  livres. 

In  1297  Philip  invaded  Flanders. 

In  13 17  packet  service  estabhshed. 

In  1320  the  fair  yielded  250  livres. 

In  1340  the  fair  yielded  180  livres. 

About  1322  the  merchants  of  Champagne  sub- 
mitted to  the  government  a  series  of  propositions  for 
legislation,  "  to  prevent  the  ruin  of  the  fairs  "  ;  and 
in  1433  Henry  VI.  of  England,  who  was  then  in  pos- 
session of  Paris,  granted  the  town  of  Provins  an  ex- 
emption from  taxes  because  her  cloth  works  could  no 
longer  maintain  her  craftsmen,  who  were  obliged  to 
labor  in  the  fields.  The  extinction  of  the  Fairs  of 
Champagne  represented  a  fundamental  alteration  in 
the  social  equilibrium.  The  trade-routes  having 
abandoned  France,  the  French  connection  lost  im- 
portance to  the  Netherlands,  and  the  Flemish  cities, 
Bruges,  Ghent,  and  Ypres,  which  had  prospered  be- 
cause of  their  convenience  to  Champagne,  sank  in 
relative  consequence.^  Energy  migrated  to  Brabant, 
for  the  trend  of  exchanges  thenceforward  for  a 
century  was  toward  Germany,  and  Brussels  and  Ant- 
werp had  the  advantage.      Antwerp  especially,  not 

1  Le  Siecle  des  Artevelde,  Vaiiderkindere,  Chapter  VI. 


I20  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

only  surpassed  Bruges  in  its  harbor,  but  afforded 
landlocked  navigation  to  the  Rhine. 

The  revolution,  nevertheless,  moved  at  first  slowly. 
During  the  Hundred  Years'  War  the  Netherlands 
were  paralyzed.  Misery  prevailed,  for  communica- 
tions were  cut  both  by  land  and  sea;  on  land  by 
marauding,  and  on  the  sea  by  piracy.  Nothing  pros- 
pered until  toward  the  return  of  peace.  The  turning- 
point  seems  to  have  been  the  recapture  of  Paris  by 
the  French  in  1436.  In  1443  Charles  VII.  officially 
admitted  the  collapse  of  the  Fairs  of  Champagne  by 
establishing  other  fairs  at  Lyons.-^  The  year  previous 
the  same  cause  had  produced  a  movement  eastward 
in  the  Low  Countries.  In  1442  a  great  migration  to 
Antwerp  occurred  of  the  foreign  merchants  domiciled 
at  Bruges.  Merchants  sought  the  Scheldt,  for  nearly 
the  whole  of  the  business  which  had  been  transacted 
in  Champagne  was  transferred  to  Antwerp,  and  in 
less  than  sixty  years  the  favored  town  received  an 
even  stronger  stimulus.  By  the  discovery  of  the  sea 
passage  to  India  the  eastern  trade  was  drawn  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  Atlantic,  and  the  fortune  of 
Genoa  and  Venice  followed  in  the  track  of  the  fortune 
of  Champagne.  The  exchanges  of  the  whole  world 
were,  for  a  season,  centralized  in  Brabant,  and  the 
vibration  of  this  accretion  of  energy  penetrated  the 
recesses  of  Asia.  Thenceforward  the  development 
of  Russia  followed  step  by  step  the  development  of 
Antwerp,  Amsterdam,  and  London. 

Antwerp  dated  the  advent  of  her  high  fortune  from 
the  migration  of  1442,  and  within  a  generation  the 

^  On  the  decline  of  the  Fairs  of  Champagne  see  J^tudes  sur  Us 
Foires  de  Champagne,  Felix  Bourquelot,  Deuxieme  Partie,  301  et  seq. 


IV.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  121 

impulsion    had  been    felt  upon   the  Volga  and  the 
Kama. 

In  1462  Ivan  III.,  who  first  took  the  title  of  Auto- 
crat of  all  Russia,  ascended  the  Muscovite  throne. 
He  refused  to  pay  tribute  to  the  Tartars,  and  when, 
in  1480,  Akhmat  Khan  attacked  him,  he  held  the 
enemy  on  the  river  Urga  until  winter  destroyed 
them.     That  repulse  ended  the  Mongol  domination. 

In  1499  Vasco  da  Gama  returned  from  his  first 
voyage,  and  in  1 502  Venice  was  already  losing  trade 
in  favor  of  Lisbon  and  the  North  Sea.  In  1505 
Ivan  III.  died,  having  extended  the  Muscovite  influ- 
ence over  the  system  of  trade-routes  which  debouch 
on  the  Baltic,  from  the  Urals  to  Novgorod.  By  1533 
Antwerp  enjoyed  an  uncontested  supremacy,  and  in 
that  year  Ivan  the  Terrible  succeeded  his  father.  All 
authorities  agree  that  the  organization  of  the  modern  _^ 
Russian  Empire  dates  from  the  reign  of  Ivan  IV.  <  ■ 
In  the  year  1688  the  revolution  broke  out  which 
exiled  the  Stuarts,  led  to  the  English  coalition  with 
the  Dutch  against  the  French,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  British  ascendency.  Parliament  incorporated 
the  Bank  of  England  in  1694,  and  in  1703  Peter  the 
Great  laid  the  corner  stone  of  the  citadel  of  St. 
Petersburg. 

Ivan  the  Terrible  came  to  the  throne  in  1533,  when 
three  years  old.  In  1554  he  took  Astrakhan,  and 
consolidated  the  valley  of  the  Volga  to  the  Caspian ; 
also  at  this  juncture  the  Russians  first  opened  direct 
relations  with  the  English,  through  the  White  Sea. 
In  1553  Richard  Chancellor,  who  had  been  sent 
with  Hugh  Willoughby  by  the  merchants  of  London 
to  seek  for  a  northeast  passage  to  Cathay,  came  "to 


122  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

the  place  where  he  found  no  night  at  all,  but  a  con- 
tinuall  light  and  brightnesse  of  the  Sunne  shining 
clearly  vpon  the  huge  and  mighty  Sea."  Finally,  he 
entered  the  port  of  Nenoksa,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Dwina,  journeyed  to  Moscow,  was  welcomed  by  the 
Czar,  and  returned  home  with  the  promise  of  liberty 
to  trade.  In  consequence  Mary  granted  a  charter  to 
the  Russia  Company  in  1555,  and  sent  Chancellor 
back  to  establish  relations  in  Moscow,  and  also  "  to 
learne  how  men  may  passe  from  Russia  either  by 
land  or  by  sea  to  Cathaia."^    KH   1  'i'p'  ( 

Chancellor  discharged  his  mission  and  sailed  for 
England  with  furs  worth  ;;!^20,ooo  and  a  Rus- 
sian ambassador.  After  a  voyage  of  four  months, 
his  ships  split  on  the  rocks  of  Pitsligo  Bay,  and 
Chancellor  perished.  Undiscouraged,  the  Company 
appointed  Anthony  Jenkinson  to  the  command  of 
four  vessels  freighted  with  cloth,  cottons,  sugar,  and 
the  like,  together  with  artisans  to  set  up  a  rope- 
walk.  Jenkinson  unloaded  his  cargo  in  the  Dwina, 
and  then,  following  the  road  which  is  still  travelled, 
he  ascended  the  river  to  Vologda,  and  thence  crossed 
by  land  to  Moscow. 

On  April  23,  1558,  Jenkinson  left  Moscow  for 
Persia  with  the  hope  of  ultimately  penetrating  to 
China.  Descending  the  Moskva  to  the  Oka,  he 
passed  into  the  Volga  and  waited  at  Nijni-Novgorod 
for  a  military  convoy  of  five  hundred  boats  bound 
for  Astrakhan.  On  the  29th  day  of  his  journey  he 
came  to  Kazan,  which  he  described  as  "  a  fayre  towne, 
.  .  .  with  a  strong  castle,  .  .  .  and  was  walled  round 

1  Early  Voyages  and  Travels  to  Russia  and  Persia,  by  Anthony 
Jenkinson,  Hakluyt  Soc.  Publications,  Introduction,  Vol.  I.,  ii,  iii. 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 23 

about  with  timber  and  earth,  but  now  the  Emperour 
of  Russia  hath  giuen  order  to  plucke  downe  the  olde 
walles  and  to  build  them  againe  of  free  stone."  ^  On 
July  6  he  reached  Perevolog,  or  the  neck  of  land 
between  the  Volga  and  the  Don,  eight  miles  across, 
and  now  traversed  by  a  railway,  but  then  "  a  dan- 
gerous place  for  theeues  and  robbers,  but  now  it  is 
not  so  euill  as  it  hath  beene,  by  reason  of  the  Empe- 
rour of  Russia  his  conquests."  Astrakhan  he  found 
but  a  sorry  abode,  having  "  such  abundance  of  flyes 
.  .  .  as  the  like  was  neuer  scene  in  any  land;"  the 
buildings  "  most  base  and  simple "  and  the  town 
walled  with  earth.  There  was  a  plague  raging  and 
also  a  famine,  and  the  Tartars  "  dyed  a  great  number 
of  them  for  hunger,  which  lay  all  the  llande  through 
in  heapes  dead,  and  like  to  beastes,  unburyed,  very 
pittifull  to  beholde  ;  many  of  them  were  also  solde  by 
the  Russes."  "There  is  a  certaine  trade  of  merchan- 
dize there  vsed,  but  as  yet  so  small  and  beggerly, 
that  it  is  not  woorth  the  making  mention,  and  yet 
there  come  merchantes  thither  from  diuers  places."  ^ 
From  Astrakhan  Jenkinson  sailed  along  the  coast 
of  the  Caspian  to  Koshak  Bay,  the  voyage  taking 
nearly  a  month,  and  on  September  14  started  with  a 
caravan  of  a  thousand  camels  for  Bokhara.  On  this 
journey  Jenkinson  met  with  treatment  which  explains 
why  these  caravan  roads  could  no  longer  be  profit- 
ably used.  Police  had  ceased  to  exist,  the  deserts 
swarmed  with  robbers,  and  the  governments  of  the 
communities  through  which  they  passed  connived  at 

1  Early   Voyages  and  Travels  to  Russia  and  Persia,  by  Anthony 
Jenkinson,  Hakluyt  Soc.  Publications,  I.,  49. 

2  Ibid,  55,  57,  58. 


124  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

plunder.  For  example,  the  "  Soltan  of  Kayte  "  pro- 
vided the  caravan  with  an  escort  of  eighty  men,  who 
travelled  with  them  two  days  and  ate  "  much  of  our 
victuals."  The  morning  of  the  third  day  "hauing 
ranged  the  wildernes  for  the  space  of  foure  houres, 
they  mette  vs  coming  towardes  vs,  as  fast  as  their 
horse  could  runne,"  declaring  that  they  had  found 
tracks  of  the  enemy,  "  and  asked  us  what  we  would 
giue  them  to  conduct  vs  further,  or  els  they  would 
returne.  To  whome  we  offered  as  we  thought  good, 
but  they  refused  our  offer,  and  would  haue  more,  .  .  . 
and  went  backe  to  their  Soltane,  who  (as  wee  coniec- 
tured)  was  priuie  to  the  conspiracie."  After  which 
they  were  set  upon,  fought  till  morning,  and  en- 
camped upon  a  hill  cut  off  from  water  "  to  our  great 
discomfort,  because  neither  we  nor  our  camels  had 
drunke  in  2  days  before."  Finally  the  merchants 
paid  a  ransom  and  marched  on,  but  being  again 
attacked  in  their  camp  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
"we  immediately  laded  our  camels  "  and  fled  to  the 
Oxus.  At  length,  on  December  22,  Jenkinson  arrived 
at  Bokhara,  just  eight  months  after  his  departure 
from  Moscow.! 

Jenkinson  had  little  opinion  of  the  Tartars  as  cus- 
tomers, or  of  central  Asia  as  a  market.  "  There  is 
yeerely  great  resort  of  Marchants  to  this  Citie  of 
Boghar,  which  trauaile  in  great  Carauans  from  the 
Countries  thereabout  adioyning,  as  India,  Persia, 
Balke,  Russia,  with  diuers  others,  and  in  times  past 
from  Cathay,  when  there  was  passage,  but  these 
Marchants  are  so  beggerly  and  poore,  and  bring  so 

^  Early  Voyages  and  Travels  to  Russia  and  Persia,  by  Anthony 
Jenkinson,  Hakluyt  Soc.  Publications,  Vol.,  I.  76,  78. 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 25 

little  quantities  of  wares,  lying  two  or  3  yeeres  to  sell 
the  same,  that  there  is  no  hope  of  any  good  trade 
there  to  be  had  worthy  the  following."  Worst  of  all 
Jenkinson  found  no  demand  for  his  cloths.  The 
Indians  brought  muslins,  "but  gold,  siluer,  pretious 
stones  and  spices  they  bring  none.  I  enquired  and 
perceiued  that  all  such  trade  passeth  to  the  Ocean 
Sea."  "I  offered  to  barter"  with  them,  "but  they 
would  not  barter  for  such  commoditie  as  cloth."  As 
for  the  king,  "  he  shewed  himselfe  a  very  Tartar," 
for  he  left  for  the  wars  without  paying  the  EngUsh- 
man  his  debts,  and  Jenkinson  had  to  compromise  and 
take  part  payment  in  goods,  "  but  of  a  begger,  better 
paiment  I  could  not  haue,  and  glad  I  was  so  to  be 
paide  and  dispatched."  ^ 

On  his  return  Jenkinson  took  back  ambassadors 
with  him,  but  embassies  were  also  sent  from  central 
Asia  to  Moscow  to  negotiate  commercial  treaties  in 
1557,  1558.  1563,  1566,  and  1583.  That  commerce 
was  flowing  strongly  northward  during  the  reign  of 
Ivan  the  Terrible  is  therefore  manifest,  yet  the  move- 
ment must  have  been  new,  for  Jenkinson  stated  em- 
phatically that,  in  his  time,  Bokharans  knew  nothing 
of  Russia.  On  the  whole,  Jenkinson  lost  no  money ; 
for  "  although  our  iourney  hath  bene  so  miserable, 
dangerous  and  chargeable  with  losses,  charges  and 
expenses,  as  my  penne  is  not  able  to  expresse  the 
same ;  yet  shall  wee  bee  able  ...  to  answere  the 
principall  with  profite."^ 

During  the  next  twenty  years  the  Russia  Company 
regularly  prosecuted  its  business,  establishing  count- 
ing-houses wherever   trade   justified  the  investment, 

^Jbid.,  86-88.  ^Ibid.,  I.,  108. 


126  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

and  soon  it  had  factories  at  Cholmogory,  Vologda, 
Yaraslav,  Novgorod,  and  Moscow,  beside  agencies  at 
Kazan  and  Astrakhan.  If  the  situation  of  these 
towns  be  examined,  it  will  be  found  that  the  English 
followed  the  thoroughfares  along  which  the  Czar  had 
extended  his  jurisdiction.  The  movements  were 
identical,  both  being  effects  of  an  identical  cause. 

The  weak  point  of  the  Russian  Empire  has  been 
that  the  travel  on  its  interminable  highways  has 
never  paid  for  their  maintenance  and  protection, 
and  therefore  the  community  as  a  whole  has  not 
prospered.  Perhaps  the  Russians  were  relatively 
wealthier  under  Ivan  the  Terrible  than  they  are  now, 
Giles  Fletcher,  who  was  sent  to  Moscow  as  ambas- 
sador by  Elizabeth  in  1588,  wrote  a  description  of 
Russia,  which  certainly  was  not  flattered,  as,  when  he 
returned,  he  sent  for  his  friend  Mr.  Wayland,  preb- 
endary of  Saint  Paul's,  "with  whom  he  hastily 
expressed  his  thankfulnesse  to  God  for  his  safe 
return  from  so  great  a  danger."  Ulysses  was  not 
"more  glad  to  be  come  out  of  the  den  of  Polyphemus 
than  he  was  to  be  rid  out  of  the  power  of  such  a 
barbarous  Prince ;  who,  counting  himself  by  a  proud 
and  voluntary  mistake  Emperor  of  all  nations,  cared 
not  for  the  law  of  all  nations  ;  and  who  was  so  habited 
in  blood,  that,  had  he  cut  off  this  ambassador's  head, 
he  and  his  friends  might  have  sought  their  own 
amends,  but  the  question  is,  where  he  would  have 
found  it."  The  book  was  published  in  1591,  but 
suppressed  upon  the  remonstrance  of  the  Russia  Com- 
pany, who  feared  its  freedom  might  injure  business. 
Fletcher,  notwithstanding  his  prejudice,  found  Mos- 
cow  a   very   considerable   place.     "The  number  of 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  12/ 

houses  (as  I  have  heard)  through  the  whole  citie 
(being  reckoned  by  the  emperour  a  Httle  before  it 
was  fired  by  the  Crim)  was  41,500  in  all.  Since  the 
Tartar  besieged  and  fired  the  town  (which  was  in  the 
yeare  1571)  there  lieth  waste  of  it  a  great  breadth  of 
ground,  which  before  was  well  set  and  planted  with 
buildings,  specially  that  part  on  the  south  side  of 
Moskua.  So  that  now  the  citie  of  Mosko  ...  is  not 
much  bigger  than  the  citie  of  London."  Fletcher 
thought  that  even  under  Ivan  the  people  had  begun  to 
suffer.  He  remarked,  after  speaking  of  Novgorod, 
Kazan,  and  one  or  two  cities  beside,  that  "  the  other 
townes  have  nothing  that  is  greatly  memorable,  save 
many  ruins  within  their  walles.  Which  sheweth  the 
decrease  of  the  Russe  people  under  this  government." 
Still  even  Fletcher  admitted  that  "three  brethren 
marchants  of  late,  that  traded  together  with  one  stocke 
in  common,  .  .  .  were  found  to  bee  worth  300,000 
rubbels  in  money,  besides  landes,  cattels  and  other 
commodities;"  one  item  being  "5000  bondslaves  at 
the  least."  And  these  men  hved  by  the  Urals.^  As 
for  Ivan  himself  he  was  reputed  to  be  enormously 
wealthy.  Michael  Lock,  in  a  letter  to  the  Company 
in  1572,  observed  "  that  he  is  the  moste  rytche  prynce 
of  treasour  that  lyvethe  this  day  on  earthe,  except 
the  Turk,"  Having  occasion  to  move  part  of  his 
property  at  the  time  of  the  Tartar  invasion,  "  he  did 
layde  fouer  thowsande  greate  carts  with  treasur  of 
Jewells,  gold,  silver  and  silk,  and  yet  left  the  same 
two  castles  still  furnyshid  with  his  ordenary  howsolde 
stuffe."  2 

'^Russia  ai  the  Close  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  Hakluyt  Soc.  Publica- 
tions, edited  by  E.  A.  Bond,  17,  62.  "^  Ibid.,  Introduction,  xi,  xii. 


128  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

Perhaps  the  history  of  Russia  illustrates  more 
strikingly  than  any  other  the  inexorable  exigencies 
of  competition.  The  shifting  of  the  market  to  the 
north  stimulated  movement  along  the  Russian  rivers. 
Growing  commerce  led  to  police,  and  the  extension 
of  the  imperial  administration ;  but  when  the  semi- 
barbarous  Slavs  came  in  contact  with  Europeans 
they  had  no  alternative  but  to  be  conquered  or  to 
accept  western  standards.  From  the  reign  of  Ivan 
III.  all  the  Czars  strove  to  import  foreign  inventions, 
artisans,  engineers,  and  officers,  with  the  effect  of 
increasing  the  expenditure  disproportionately,  be- 
cause of  the  social  inertia  arising  from  slow  and 
costly  transportation.^ 

Nevertheless,  although  the  result  might  be  obtained 
at  a  prodigious  sacrifice,  Russia  could  become  formid- 
able as  a  military  power,  and  this  the  Swedes  and  Poles 
soon  perceived.  In  1556  Gustavus  of  Sweden  sent  a 
special  embassy  to  remonstrate  with  Queen  Mary 
against  the  trade  carried  on  by  Englishmen  at  the 
port  of  St.  Nicholas,  and  in  1569,  when  Ivan  had 
occupied  Narva,  King  Sigismund  of  Poland  flatly  told 
Elizabeth,  when  she  protested  against  certain  seizures 
of  ships,  that  by  reason  of  "our  admonition  divers 
princes  already  content  themselves,  and  abstaine  from 
the  Narve.  The  others  that  will  not  abstaine  from 
the  said  voyage  shall  be  impeached  by  our  navie, 
and  incurre  the  danger  of  losse  of  life,  liberty,  wife 
and  children."  He  explained  to  Elizabeth  that  Eng- 
lish  commerce   with    Muscovy  in  munitions  of  war 

1  For  a  criticism  of  Russian  finance  during  the  last  century,  see  an 
exhaustive  article  by  W.  C.  Ford  in  the  Political  Science  Quarterly, 
March,  1902,  "The  Economy  of  Russia." 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 29 

was  "  full  of  danger,  not  onely  to  our  parts,  but  also 
to  the  open  destruction  of  all  Christians  and  liberall 
nations."  Isolated,  Ivan  could  not  obtain  the  arms, 
the  engineers,  and  the  material  to  be  highly  formi- 
dable, but  by  commerce  he  organized  an  effective 
force.  "We  know  and  feele  of  a  surety  the  Musco- 
vite .  .  .  dayly  to  grow  mightie  by  the  increase  of 
such  things  as  be  brought  to  the  Narve,  while  not 
onely  warres  but  also  weapons  heretofore  unknowen 
to  him,  and  artificers  and  arts  be  brought  unto  him ; 
by  meane  whereof  he  maketh  himself  strong  to  van- 
quish all  others.  .  .  .  We  seemed  hitherto  to  van- 
quish him  onely  in  this,  that  he  was  rude  of  arts  and 
ignorant  of  policies.  If  so  be  that  this  navigation  of 
the  Narve  continue,  what  shall  be  unknowen  to 
him .? "  1 

To  make  inventions  profitable,  however,  they  must 
be  had  early  and  used  intelligently,  else  they  are 
superseded  where  they  originated,  and  competitors 
maintain  their  relative  advantage.  Early  in  the 
sixteenth  century  Sigismund  von  Herberstein  no- 
ticed that  the  Russians  lacked  the  mechanical  genius 
to  keep  abreast  of  the  age,  even  when  given  improved 
implements:  "The  prince  [Vassili  IV.,  1 505-1 533] 
has  now  German  and  Italian  cannon-founders,  who 
cast  cannon  and  other  pieces  of  ordnance,  and  iron 
cannon  balls  such  as  our  own  princes  use ;  and  yet 
these  people,  who  consider  that  everything  depends 
upon  rapidity,  cannot  understand  the  use  of  them, 
nor  can  they  ever  employ  them  in  an  engagement. 
I  omitted  also  to  state,  that  they  seem  not  to  compre- 

^  The    Treatise   of  the   Russe    Commomuealth,  by   Giles   Fletcher, 
Hakluyt  Soc.  Publications,  Introduction,  xvii. 
K 


130  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

hend  the  different  kinds  of  artillery,  or  rather  I 
should  say,  what  use  to  make  of  them.  I  mean  to 
say,  that  they  do  not  know  when  they  ought  to  use 
the  larger  kind  of  cannon  which  are  intended  for  de- 
stroying walls,  or  the  smaller  for  breaking  the  force 
of  an  enemy's  attack."  ^ 

Thus,  whether  they  would  or  no,  the  instinct  of 
self-preservation  forced  the  Russians  during  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  into  the  vortex  of 
competition.  The  market  had  migrated  from  the 
south  to  the  north,  therefore  the  ancient  avenues 
which  had  sufficed  them  when  Byzantium  held 
supremacy,  sufficed  no  longer,  and  a  new  network 
of  waterways  came  into  use  by  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  which  consoHdated  into  the  exist- 
ing trans-Siberian  economic  system. 

When  at  Bokhara,  Jenkinson  had  found  the  road 
to  Cathay  closed  by  a  war  between  the  Kirghiz  and 
the  cities  of  Tashkend  and  Kashgar.  For  three 
years  no  caravans  had  reached  the  Syr-Daria,  but 
merchants  whom  he  met  gave  him  information,  which 
he  appended  to  his  report  in  the  form  of  an  itinerary 
of  routes.  He  described  three  roads,  two  by  Kash- 
gar, and  a  third,  mentioned  by  an  inhabitant  of  Perm, 
through  the  north  of  Siberia,  and,  seemingly,  south 
by  the  Lena.  Jenkinson  wrote  of  the  year  1559,  and 
not  impossibly  the  growing  anarchy  in  central  Asia 
may  have  hastened  the  opening  of  the  outlet  to  Pe- 
king across  the  Siberian  plain.  During  the  fifteenth 
century  the  Russians  reached  the  Urals,  and  in  1499 
they  even  sent  a  force  into  the  valley  of  the  Obi. 

1  Notes  upon  Russia,  by  the  Baron  Sigismund  von  Herberstein,  Hak- 
luyt  Soc.  Publications,  98. 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  13I 

Among  the  early  settlers  at  Perm  were  the  Strog- 
anoffs,  probably  wealthy  Tartars,  who  enjoyed  large 
privileges  and  in  return  kept  order.  They  guarded  the 
passes  of  the  Ural  at  their  own  expense,  built  block- 
houses, bought  guns,  and  hired  men.  About  1573  the 
Stroganoffs  decided  to  conquer  the  rich  fur  country 
of  the  Obi,  and  to  this  end  they  employed  a  certain 
Cossack  pirate  of  the  Volga  named  Yermak.  Yermak, 
with  a  mixed  band  of  800  adventurers,  armed  and 
equipped  by  the  Stroganoffs,  started  to  cross  the 
Urals  on  September  i,  1581.  The  story  of  the 
conquest  of  Siberia  deserves  to  be  read  in  detail 
because  of  its  bearing  on  the  opening  of  new 
trade-routes.^  Here  only  a  summary  is  possible. 
Yermak  followed  the  rivers,  ascending  the  Tchussa- 
waya  and  the  Serebrianka  as  far  as  the  boats  would 
float,  when  an  easy  portage  brought  him  to  the  Jara- 
vli,  an  affluent  of  the  Taghil,  which,  through  the 
Tura  and  the  Tobol,  enters  the  Irtish  at  Tobolsk ; 
the  whole  system  forming  part  of  the  valley  of  the 
Obi.  Near  Tobolsk  lay  the  Tartar  capital  Sibir, 
from  whence  the  name  Siberia.  Yermak  attacked 
and  defeated  the  Tartars  and  occupied  Sibir.  He 
then  sent  one  of  his  robber  comrades,  who  had  been 
condemned  to  death  by  Ivan  the  Terrible,  to  Moscow 
with  sables  and  the  news  of  his  victory.  Ivan  is  said 
to  have  created  Yermak  a  prince.  He  certainly 
made  him  the  first  governor  of  Siberia,  and  sent  him 
his  own  mantle.  Sibir  became  shortly  a  famous 
market,  merchants  flocking  thither  from  far  and  near, 
but  on  Yermak's  death  in  action  the  Tartars  regained 

^  A  very  good  account  of  Yermak  and  his  successors  is  to  be  found 
in  Russia  on  the  Pacific  and  the  Siberian  Railway,  Vladimir. 


132  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

the  town.  The  Russians  thereupon  removed  to 
Tobolsk,  about  twelve  miles  distant,  and  Sibir  slowly- 
disappeared. 

The  Russians  were  few  in  number,  and  the  con- 
quest of  Siberia  amounted  to  little  more  than  guard- 
ing the  more  exposed  portions  of  the  streams  with 
blockhouses.  Between  the  Ket  and  its  tributaries, 
which  belong  to  the  system  of  the  Obi,  and  the  Kas 
and  its  tributaries,  which  belong  to  that  of  the  Yeni- 
sei, there  is  only  an  interval  of  five  miles.^  Near  the 
junction  stood  Yeniseisk,  which  is  supposed  to  have 
been  founded  in  1618.  It  probably  consisted  of  a 
palisaded  enclosure  of  a  hundred  yards  or  so  square, 
with  a  church,  magazine,  and  storehouse.  Like  To- 
bolsk, Yeniseisk  became  a  centre  of  the  fur  trade, 
and  from  thence  men  wandered  farther  into  the  inte- 
rior, seeking  always  the  path  of  least  resistance  east- 
ward. In  this  case  that  path  proved  to  be  the  portage 
from  the  valley  of  the  Yenisei  to  the  valley  of  the 
Lena,  by  the  neck  of  land  between  the  two  rivers 
across  which  the  road  from  Ilimsk  to  Mukskaya  now 
runs.  This  portage,  defended  by  blockhouses,  gave 
the  Russians  control  of  the  upper  waters  of  these 
streams,  and  with  them  the  approaches  to  Lake 
Baikal.  Hitherto  their  progress  had  been  rapid,  but 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  lake  itself  they  met  with 
stubborn  resistance,  nor  was  it  before  165 1  that  they 
succeeded  in  establishing  a  permanent  settlement  at 
Irkutsk.  The  Russians  crossed  Lake  Baikal,  ex- 
plored the  Amur,  and  wandering  eastward  about  five 
hundred  miles,  in  1654,  fortified  Nertchinsk,  at  the 
junction  of  the  Nercha  and  the   Shilka.     At  Nert- 

^  See  itinerary  given  in  full  in  Russia  on  the  Pacific,  72. 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 33 

chinsk  the  road  from  Peking  debouched,  and  they 
accordingly  held  the  place  tenaciously.  They  after- 
ward settled  at  Albazin ;  but  here  the  Chinese  onset 
proved  too  cogent.  In  1689,  by  the  treaty  of  Nert- 
chinsk,  they  abandoned  Albazi  and  the  whole  valley 
of  the  Amur. 

The  result  was  logical.  Trade  to  China  passed  by 
Nertchinsk,  but  the  Pacific  offered  no  outlet.  Hence 
the  Muscovite  economic  system  followed  the  trade 
route  until  resistance  stopped  progress  at  Nertchinsk. 
Having  stopped,  Russia  lay  passive  until  it  received 
another  impulsion  toward  Cathay.  That  impulsion 
came  from  the  United  States.  In  1854  Perry  signed 
his  convention  with  the  Mikado,  which  was  followed 
by  a  full  treaty  of  commerce  in  1858.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1859  Moravieff  explored  the  coast  south  of 
the  Amur  as  far  as  Wei-hai-wei,  visited  Japan,  and 
finally  selected  Vladivostok  as  the  site  of  a  pro- 
visional Russian  capital  upon  the  Pacific. 

When,  in  1689,  Peter  the  Great  began  his  reign, 
the  two  great  economic  systems  of  the  modern  world, 
though  yet  inchoate,  were  rapidly  consolidating.  The 
revolution  of  1688  in  Great  Britain  indicated  that 
the  concentration  of  commercial  exchanges  at  Lon- 
don had  already  made  the  mercantile  class  the  domi- 
nant influence  in  the  kingdom,  while  the  incorporation 
of  the  Bank  of  England  in  1694  may  be  regarded  as 
the  first  step  taken  by  the  nation  in  its  career  as  a 
financial  power  of  magnitude.  In  1757  Clive  con- 
quered at  Plassey,  giving  to  the  British  the  control 
of  India  and  the  plunder  of  Bengal.  In  1759  Wolfe 
captured  Quebec,  and  the  "  Industrial  Revolution," 
which,  by  1801,  had  won  for  the  United  Kingdom 


134  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

the  monopoly  of  western  manufacturing,  opened  with 
the  invention  of  the  flying  shuttle  in  1760,  and  the 
gradual  substitution  of  coal  for  wood  in  smelting. 

Thus  the  ocean  routes  between  China,  India,  and 
America  converged  at  the  British  Islands,  which  also, 
as  a  manufacturing  centre,  sold  commodities  east  and 
west.  No  position  could  be  stronger,  provided  the 
English  could  defend  their  connections  and  their 
bases,  and  provided  they  were  not  undersold  by  the 
transcontinental  highways.  A  similar  concentration 
took  place  in  Russia.  During  Peter's  reign  the  thor- 
oughfares from  Moscow  to  Peking,  Samarkand,  and 
Teheran  were  established.  Peter  policed  the  Volga, 
visited  the  Caspian,  and  entered  into  regular  diplo- 
matic correspondence  with  Peking,  sending  his  embas- 
sies thither  along  the  roads  which  have  been  followed 
ever  since.  A  good  account  of  Siberia  at  this  period 
has  been  given  by  one  of  his  ambassadors.  In  1692 
Peter  despatched  Evert  Ysbrand  Ides,  a  Danish  mer- 
chant, with  "  a  splendid  embassy  on  some  important 
affairs,  to  the  Great  Bogdaichan,  or  Sovereign  of  the 
famous  Kingdom  of  Katai,"  and  on  March  14  Ides 
started  from  Moscow  on  a  sled.  He  followed  the 
course  of  the  rivers,  making  a  long  detour  northward 
to  Vologda,  then  by  the  Suchona  to  the  Kama,  and 
so  into  Asia.  The  travelling  was  slow,  but  the  expe- 
dition seems  to  have  encountered  few  hardships,  and 
it  arrived  safely  at  Irkutsk,  which  Ides  thus  described: 
"  The  suburbs  are  very  large ;  all  sorts  of  grain,  salt, 
flesh,  and  fish  are  very  cheap  here  ;  .  .  .  beside  great 
numbers  of  Russians  have  settled  here,  and  taken  up 
some  hundreds  of  villages,  all  which  with  great  in- 
dustry and  success  promote  agriculture."    He  reached 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 35 

Lake  Baikal  on  March  10,  just  a  year  after  leaving 
Moscow.^  Ides  travelled  to  Peking  by  the  Nertchinsk 
road.     The  country  seems  to  have  been  safe. 

To  the  south  and  west  of  Moscow,  as  the  resistance 
was  greater,  the  parts  of  the  system  united  more  slowly. 
The  Baltic  was  closed  by  the  Swedes  and  the  Poles, 
while  Turks  and  Tartars  intervened  between  the  states 
grouped  along  the  Volga  and  the  Kama  and  the  Black 
Sea.  Passing  by,  for  the  moment,  Peter's  great  cam- 
paigns against  the  Swedes,  and  the  foundation  of 
St.  Petersburg,  the  absorption  of  the  Kirghiz  opened 
the  roads  to  Samarkand  and  India. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
Kirghiz,  divided  amongst  themselves  and  attacked 
by  the  Kalmucks  and  the  Cossacks,  asked  to  become 
Russian  subjects.  Peter  declined,  feeling,  probably, 
too  weak  to  extend  his  lines  of  communication  with 
such  powerful  enemies  on  his  western  frontier.  After 
the  victory  of  Pultowa  the  Khan  Abul-Khair  again 
appealed  to  the  Czar,  who  agreed  to  recognize  his 
title  to  sovereignty  provided  he  would  protect  Russian 
caravans  travelling  along  the  Syr-Daria  and  would 
respect  the  Russian  territory.  Following  this  treaty 
came  the  foundation  of  Orenburg  in  1735,  and  thence- 
forward the  Russians  steadily  absorbed  under  their 
administration  the  territory  tributary  to  the  main 
trade-routes  of  central  Asia,  until  now  their  system 
approaches  both  Kashgar  and  Herat. 

Nevertheless  the  fundamental  difficulty  remains. 
The  traffic  has  never  paid  the  cost  of  maintenance 
of  these  extended  highways,  for  the  bulk  of  the  more 

1  Three  Year  Travels  from  Moscow  Overland  to  C^zwa,  written  by 
his  Excellency  Evert  Ysbrants  Ides,  London,  1705,  page  35. 


136  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

valuable  merchandise  passes  now  from  the  East  to 
the  West  by  sea,  as  it  did  in  the  days  of  Dandolo  or 
of  EUzabeth.  Still,  consolidation  continued,  for  con- 
solidation was  equivalent  to  economy.  As  early  as 
1654  the  Cossacks  of  the  southern  steppes  coalesced 
with  the  administration  at  Moscow,  but  a  long 
period  of  war  intervened  before  the  predatory  popu- 
lation of  the  Crimea  could  be  subdued.  At  last  the 
Crimea  became  no  better  than  an  abode  of  bandits. 
The  Russian  colonization  spread  steadily  down  the 
highway  of  the  Don,  and  in  1783  Catherine  II. 
annexed  the  peninsula,  the  Turks  being  too  weak  to 
interfere.  Meanwhile,  the  partition  of  Poland  had 
begun  ;  but  the  fall  of  Sweden  and  Poland  are  bound 
up  with  some  of  the  most  momentous  incidents  of 
modern  European  history ;  amongst  others  with  the 
rise  of  the  German  Empire. 

Perhaps,  relatively  to  the  civilization  in  which  it 
flourished,  the  Hanseatic  League  was  the  most  power- 
ful and  pervasive  monopoly  which  ever  existed ;  nor, 
so  long  as  commerce  followed  the  Elbe  and  the  Rhine 
from  Venice,  could  its  position  be  shaken.  The  cor- 
poration, based  on  the  guilds  of  the  different  towns, 
was  an  association  of  capitalists  spreading  over 
Germany,  and  controlling  transportation  between 
domestic  markets  and  foreign  ports.  Therefore  out- 
lying countries  drawing  their  suppHes  from  the 
North  Sea  and  the  Baltic  were  at  the  mercy  of  the 
Hanse,  which  acquired  a  power  over  them  always 
considerable,  and  sometimes  absolute.  In  London 
during  some  centuries  the  Merchants  of  the  Steel- 
yard were  influential;  at  Novgorod  the  Germans 
were  autocratic,  and  in  Sweden  they  may  be  said  to 


IV.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  1 37 

have  formed  the  ruling  class.  Half  the  burgomasters 
and  the  counsellors  of  the  Swedish  towns  were  nomi- 
nated by  the  League.  Nothing  escaped  them ;  they 
dealt  in  all  commodities,  and  speculated  in  most 
industries.  In  Russia  they  bought  fur  and  wax,  and 
sold  spices  and  wines.  In  Sweden  they  sold  every- 
thing which  conduces  to  luxury  and  civilization,  and 
took  in  exchange  dried  fish  and  iron.  Under  such 
conditions  the  Swedes  could  accumulate  little.  The 
Hanse  merchants,  as  creditors,  kept  manufacturing 
to  themselves.  For  example,  the  Germans  bought 
the  Swedish  pig,  took  it  to  Dantzic,  manufactured 
it,  carried  it  back  to  Stockholm  or  Bergen,  and  sold 
it  at  their  own  price. 

It  is  impossible  to  conjecture  how  long  the  League 
would  have  retained  its  monopoly  had  trade  followed 
its  old  routes.  It  fell,  like  Venice,  with  the  discovery 
of  the  ocean  passage  to  India.  When  undersold  by 
the  shipping  of  the  west,  it  lost  vitality,  and  one 
after  another  its  vassals  liberated  themselves.  Gus- 
tavus  Vasa  emancipated  Sweden. 

Gustavus  gained  the  throne  partly  through  the 
aid  of  Liibeck,  therefore  he  did  not  begin  reforms 
before  he  knew  that  he  could  safely  discard  his  ally. 
Of  much  ability,  Gustavus  saw  the  advantage  his 
country  would  reap  by  the  overthrow  of  the  Hanse, 
and  by  degrees  projected  measures  of  relief.  The 
Hanse  resisted,  by  plotting  treason  ;  the  king  retali- 
ated, hostilities  ensued,  Gustavus  prevailed,  and  the 
treaty  of  Hamburg,  in  1533,  reduced  the  corporation 
to  impotence.  Once  free,  Sweden  soon  earned  wealth 
and  glory.  Gustavus,  needing  skilled  labor  to  develop 
the  iron,  prohibited  the  export  of  pig  to  Dantzic,  thus 


138  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

throwing  the  workmen,  whom  the  Hanse  had  there 
collected,  out  of  employment.  Many  of  these  emi- 
grated to  Scandinavia,  and  by  161 1,  when  Gustavus 
Adolphus  succeeded  his  father  Charles  IX.,  Sweden 
had  gone  far.  Under  Gustavus  Adolphus  the 
peninsula  reached  its  full  development.  Gustavus 
followed  the  policy  of  his  predecessors,  and  his 
kingdom  became  a  leading  industrial  community.-' 
The  effect  was  immediate  and  unmistakable. 

Drawing  energy  from  her  minerals,  the  nation 
fought  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  won  for  Gustavus 
Adolphus  his  victories.  These  victories  shattered 
mediaeval  Germany,  but  no  campaigns,  however  brill- 
iant, would  have  built  up  the  kingdom  of  Prussia, 
had  the  world  in  1650  been  centralized  as  in  1200. 

The  founding  of  Irkutsk  was  contemporaneous  with 
the  expansion  of  Brandenburg  under  the  treaty  of 
Westphalia,  because  it  was  through  the  opening  up 
of  Russia  and  Siberia  that  the  region  tributary  to 
Berlin  received  the  impulsion  which  caused  it  to 
consolidate.  It  was  this  core  which  in  a  little  over 
two  centuries  developed  into  the  modern  German 
Empire. 

The  surplus  production  of  eastern  Europe  and 
Asia,  from  Lake  Baikal  on  the  east  to  the  Oxus  on 
the  south,  sought  more  and  more  eagerly  the  paths  of 
least  resistance  to  Amsterdam  and  London.  Some 
passed  thither  by  Trebizond,  and  some  by  the  ports 
of  Livonia,  but  perhaps  the  more  valuable  portion 
went  by  river  and  by  road  to  the  German  markets  in 
the  valley  of  the  Elbe,  and  from  thence  to  Hamburg. 

Like  all  processes   of  nature,  the  construction  of 

1  Die  Geschichte  des  Eisens,  Beck,  II.,  900,  1291. 


IV.  THE  NEW   empire;  1 39 

modern  Russia  and  Germany  has  been  in  accordance 
with  fixed  laws.  When  the  dominant  market  sought 
the  North  Sea,  and,  in  consequence,  the  Unes  of 
communication  in  central  Russia  began  to  consoli- 
date, the  cost  of  administration  increased,  and  it 
became  a  question  of  life  and  death  to  the  Muscovite 
organism  to  obtain  direct  relations  with  its  customers. 
At  Novgorod  the  Hanse  occupied  somewhat  such 
a  position  as  the  Arabs  held  at  Cairo  ;  having  a 
monopoly,  they  raised  the  price  of  all  their  sales,  and 
depressed  the  price  of  all  their  purchases.  Russia  was 
poor  and  suffered  intensely.  It  tried  war.  On  Novem- 
ber 5,  1494,  Ivan  III.  seized  the  warehouses  at  Nov- 
gorod, threw  the  merchants  into  prison,  and  carried 
away  their  goods.  But  this  did  not  end  the  difficulty. 
Somewhat  later  the  Baltic  ports,  but  especially  Reval, 
Dorpat,  and  Narva,  resorted  to  trade  combinations  to 
enhance  prices.  As  a  result  the  Russians  sent  their 
more  valuable  products  direct  to  Poland,  and  from 
Poland  to  Leipsic.  The  chief  of  these  products  was 
fur.  In  1549  the  representative  of  Riga  at  Liibeck 
stated  that  Novgorod's  fur  trade  had  been  diverted 
to  Leipsic,  and  that  it  passed  thither  by  way  of  Littau, 
Cracow,  and  Posen.^ 

Another  important  export  of  Russia  was  leather, 
made  in  the  Ukraine.  This  leather,  shipped  by  way  of 
Breslau,  was  exchanged  for  linen  and  manufactures, 

1  "  In  dieser  Beziehung  machten  die  Vertreter  Rigas — 1549,  1554  — 
geltend,  der  einstmals  zu  Nowgorod  bluhende  Handel  mit  Pelzwerk 
gehe  jetzt  durch  die  Hande  der  Littauer,  Krakauer,  Posener  und  an- 
derer  hauptsachlich  auf  Leipzig  und  werde  schvverlich  wieder  nach 
dem  Contor  gelenkt  werden  konnen,"  —  Berickte  und  Akti7i  der  Hans- 
ischen  Gesandtschaft  nach  Moskati  iin  Jahre  idoj.  Otto  Blvimcke,  IV. 


I40  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

the  whole  trade  centring  in  Germany.  So  large  and 
so  lucrative  was  the  business  that  Russian  leather,  in 
Peter  the  Great's  time,  cost  less  in  Breslau  than  in 
St.  Petersburg. 

It  was  this  commerce  which  made  the  fortune  of 
Leipsic.  Ivan  sacked  Novgorod  in  1494,  and  in 
1497  and  1507  the  Emperor  Maximilian  confirmed 
the  charters  which  gave  Leipsic  her  most  important 
privileges,  the  town  becoming  forthwith  the  chief 
market  of  the  world  for  furs.  Both  Leipsic  and  Ber- 
lin belong  to  the  Elbe  system  of  waterways,  and  thus 
enjoy  cheap  access  to  the  sea.  The  roads  from 
Moscow,  Warsaw,  St.  Petersburg,  and  Breslau  all  con- 
verge at  Berlin,  where  they  unite  in  a  single  line  to 
Hamburg.  But  Hamburg  has  always  been  an  advan- 
tageous port  for  Russia,  because,  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
by  trans-shipping  at  Liibeck  and  Hamburg,  merchants 
avoided  the  tolls  as  well  as  the  dangers  of  the  Sound ; 
and,  in  later  times,  because  by  travelling  overland  to 
Berlin  they  escaped  the  exactions  of  the  Livonian 
cities,  and  often  the  custom-houses.  Smuggling  on  the 
Berlin  route  was  practised  on  a  large  scale.  In  1707,' 
when  Charles  XII.  was  meditating  an  invasion  of  Rus- 
sia, a  panic  seized  on  Moscow  and  the  "  great  foreign 
merchants  and  capitalists  hastened  to  go  to  Hamburg 
with  their  families  and  property,  while  the  mechanics 
and  artisans  went  into  their  service."  ^  Such  persons 
would  certainly  have  travelled  by  the  safest  and  best- 
established  route. 

Therefore  Leipsic  and  Berlin  prospered  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  because  they 
became  centres  for  the  overland  trade  flowing  from 

1  Peter  the  Great,  Eugene  Schuyler,  2,  76. 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  I4I 

the  East  toward  Amsterdam  and  London,  and  during 
the  last  century  Berlin  has  been  even  more  power- 
fully stimulated  by  the  development  of  the  Polish 
and  Silesian  minerals. 

Prussia  and  Russia  grew  simultaneously,  as  parts 
of  a  single  whole,  and  the  Seven  Years'  War,  in 
which  Frederick  extended  his  dominions  south  to  the 
borders  of  Galicia,  along  the  frontier  of  Poland,  was 
only  the  supplement  to  the  campaigns  of  Peter,  in 
which  he  dismembered  Sweden.  At  the  close  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  Sweden  not  only  held  most  of 
the  eastern  coast  of  the  Baltic,  but  Pomerania  and 
other  German  provinces.  Sweden  then  enjoyed 
preeminence.  The  Swedish  soldiers  were  the  most 
renowned,  the  Swedish  statesmen  the  most  respected, 
the  Swedish  industries  the  most  active.  Russia,  on 
the  contrary,  still  wallowed  in  barbarism.  Yet  the 
Swedes  instinctively  felt  insecure  and  tried  to  destroy 
their  enemy.  Most  nations  have  obeyed  these  intui- 
tions and  have  fought  their  bloodiest  battles  on  some 
apparently  trifling  pretext,  yet,  as  men  have  after- 
ward perceived,  in  anticipation  of  an  approaching 
catastrophe.  Few  have  resigned  themselves  to  sink 
without  a  blow. 

The  mind  of  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden  is  now  usu- 
ally deemed  to  have  been  unbalanced,  but  his  con- 
temporaries thought  differently.  Johnson  said  that 
at  his  name  Europe  grew  pale.  France  and  England 
both  sought  his  alliance,  but  Charles  cared  not  for 
them.  His  whole  soul  was  fixed  upon  the  east ;  his 
one  idea  to  strike  at  Moscow.  And  men  believed  he 
would  succeed.  He  himself,  in  1 707,  expected  within 
a  year  to  dictate  peace  from  the  Kremlin.     Nor  did 


142  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

his  calculations  seem  unreasonable.  According  to 
Napoleon,  he  commanded  80,000  superb  troops,  and  in 
his  first  campaign  in  1708  he  defeated  the  Russians  on 
the  Beresina  and  at  Smolensk.  Master  of  Poland  and 
Riga,  and  only  ten  days'  march  from  Moscow,  Peter 
lost  courage,  and  sent  Charles  propositions  of  peace. 
Charles  rejected  the  overture,  but,  instead  of  advanc- 
ing at  once  on  Moscow,  turned  toward  the  south  with 
the  expectation  of  forming  a  junction  with  the  Cos- 
sacks under  Mazeppa,  and  wintered  in  the  Ukraine. 
Napoleon  has  condemned  his  tactics,  and  on  such  a 
matter  Napoleon's  opinion  must  be  final,  but  prob- 
ably nothing  could  have  availed  him.  In  these  great 
movements  the  genius  of  a  general  can  seldom  affect 
the  final  result.  The  forces  at  work  are  too  cogent. 
In  this  war,  as  in  18 12,  the  longer  hostilities  lasted, 
the  more  the  defence  gained  upon  the  attack.  The 
inference  is  obvious. 

When  Charles  took  the  field  in  the  spring  of  1709, 
he  commanded  only  about  24,000  men,  and  with 
these  he  invested  Pultowa.  Peter,  on  the  other 
hand,  concentrated  some  60,000  for  the  relief  of  the 
place,  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  while  the  Swedes 
lost  in  effectiveness  as  well  as  in  number,  because  of 
the  hardships  they  endured,  the  Russians  gained  in 
both.  Charles,  notwithstanding  the  disparity  of 
force,  attacked.  He  met  a  repulse,  and  when  the 
enemy  took  the  offensive  his  army  broke,  and  was 
either  captured  or  destroyed.  In  his  joy  Peter  ex- 
claimed, likening  Charles  to  Phaethon,  "  The  son  of 
the  morning  has  fallen  from  heaven ;  the  founda- 
tions of  St.  Petersburg  now  stand  firm." 

Pultowa  was  decisive.     Thereafter   Germany  and 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  I43 

Russia  divided  the  heritage  of  Sweden.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  follow  the  policy  of  Peter  in  detail,  but  his  main 
conception  has  been  well  summed  up  by  Rambaud 
in  his  History  of  Russia:  "Peter  always  dreamed  of 
making  Russia  the  centre  of  communications  between 
Asia  and  Europe.  He  had  conquered  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic,  but  he  had,  to  indemnify  himself  for 
the  loss  of  the  Azov,  to  open  at  least  one  of  the  east- 
ern seas.  Persia,  mistress  of  the  Caspian,  was  then  a 
prey  to  anarchy,  under  an  incapable  prince  whom 
rebels  assailed  on  all  sides.  Some  Russian  mer- 
chants had  been  plundered.  Peter  seized  the  pre- 
text to  occupy  Derbent,  and  took  command  himself 
of  an  expedition  which  descended  the  Volga  from 
Nijni  to  Astrakhan.  After  his  departure  operations 
continued,  the  Russians  took  Bakou."^  So,  consist- 
ently, Peter's  first  work  at  St.  Petersburg  was  to 
connect  the  Neva  with  the  Volga,  by  the  canal  of 
Ladoga,  and  he  planned  also  to  unite  the  White  Sea 
with  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  and  the  Black  with  the 
Caspian  by  a  canal  between  the  Volga  and  the  Don. 

As  an  effect  of  more  rapid  communications  Rus- 
sian society  received  an  energetic  impulsion.  Suc- 
cess in  competition  depends  on  rapidity  and  economy 
of  movement,  and  all  barbaric  civilization  is  costly 
because  of  defective  administration,  which  engenders 
waste.  Peter's  reforms  tended  to  suppress  waste 
and  to  augment  speed.  His  improvement  of  trade- 
routes  illustrates  the  latter  proposition ;  one  or  two 
examples  will  illustrate  the  former. 

Every  barbarous  country  pays  its  civil  servants  by 
fees  charged  to  the  individual  who  requires  a  service, 

1  Histoire  de  la  Russie,  Rambaud,  411. 


144  "^HE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

as  elsewhere  lawyers  and  doctors  are  paid.  The 
conception  of  general  taxation  for  fixed  salaries  is 
very  advanced.  Yet  the  exaction  of  fees  by  officials 
occasions  loss  and  delay.  The  ancient  Czars  pro- 
nounced this  formula  when  making  an  appointment, 
"  Live  off  your  place  and  satisfy  yourself."  Peter 
was  stern  toward  peculation.  He  tortured  and  killed 
many  officials  who  had  peculated,  banished  others, 
beheaded  several  governors,  and  one  great  dignitary 
he  compelled  to  produce  his  books,  and  convicted 
him,  by  his  own  accounts,  of  being  robbed  by  his 
intendant  and  of  himself  robbing  the  state.  Peter 
flogged  him  with  his  own  hands,  and  sent  him  "  to 
settle  his  own  reckoning  with  his  intendant."  The 
military  administration  was  wasteful,  among  other 
reasons,  because  the  officers  starved  the  recruits  and 
stole  the  money  allowed  for  food.  The  consequence 
was  a  large  mortality.  Peter  offered  the  estate  of 
any  official  convicted  of  such  practices  to  whoever 
would  give  proof  of  guilt.  He  was  soon  over- 
whelmed with  anonymous  letters  making  all  kinds  of 
unsubstantiated  charges,  and  this  plan  had  to  be 
abandoned.  On  the  whole  he  accomplished  little  or 
nothing,  for  the  salaries  paid  the  civil  servants  were 
inadequate  to  their  support.  Peter  also  pursued  the 
policy  of  his  predecessors  and  encouraged  the  immi- 
gration of  skilled  labor,  whether  industrial  or  agri- 
cultural. The  newcomers  indeed  could  not  mix  with 
the  natives,  yet  they  may  have  increased  intellectual 
flexibility  in  some  degree. 

Thus  although  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  move- 
ment of  Russia  lagged  behind  the  movement  of  the 
West,  it  had  become  rapid  compared  with  the  stag- 


IV.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  1 45 

nation  which  prevailed  when  Jenkinson  lived,  and  its 
effect  may  be  measured  on  the  steady  lengthening 
out  of  Brandenburg,  which  was  the  continuation  of  its 
main  trade-route. 

At  the  accession  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  Brandenburg 
was,  what  it  had  been  since  the  thirteenth  century,  a 
somewhat  compact  block  of  territory  lying  across  the 
Oder  and  the  Elbe.  When  Ivan  came  to  the  throne 
in  1533,  the  overland  trade,  for  the  more  costly  goods, 
from  Moscow  to  the  Elbe  was  established,  and  it  went 
on  increasing  and  stimulating  the  region  through 
which  it  passed.  Ivan  died  in  1584,  and  already  the 
old  era  approached  its  end.  The  Thirty  Years'  War 
which  estabHshed  a  new  equilibrium  was  at  hand. 
The  war  broke  out  in  16 18,  and  in  1620  Frederick 
William,  the  Great  Elector,  was  born.  This  man 
laid  the  foundation  of  Prussian  ascendency,  and  he 
did  so  logically  by  stretching  out  along  his  trade- 
routes  toward  Moscow  on  the  one  side,  and  toward 
the  metals  of  the  Rhine  on  the  other.  By  the  treaty 
of  Westphalia,  which  closed  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in 
1648,  Frederick  obtained  Lower  Pomerania,  which 
carried  his  territory  nearly  to  the  Vistula.  Subse- 
quently he  conquered  Upper  Pomerania  from  the 
Swedes,  but  was  forced  to  surrender  it.  Most  note- 
worthy of  all,  in  1666,  he  obtained  in  the  Rhine 
country  the  Duchy  of  Cleves  and  the  counties  of 
Mark  and  Ravensburg.  Mark  was  then  the  very 
heart  of  the  Rhenish  iron  industry,  the  three  chief 
manufacturing  towns  being  Liidenscheid,  Altena,  and 
Iserlohn.i 

Peter  the  Great's  victory  over  Charles   led  to  an 

^  Die  Geschichte  des  Eisens,  Beck,  II.,  1 1 74. 


146  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

expansion  of  Russia  toward  the  west,  and  this  expan- 
sion was  followed  by  the  Seven  Years'  War,  in  which 
Frederick  seized  Silesia,  causing  a  corresponding 
Prussian  expansion  toward  the  east.  A  generation 
later  the  two  great  systems,  steadily  gravitating 
toward  each  other,  divided  Poland,  and  their  frontiers 
met.  In  the  attack  on  the  overland  system  by  Napo- 
leon, Prussia,  when  conquered  by  France,  freed  her- 
self through  the  defeat  of  Bonaparte  in  Russia. 

Since  then  the  same  process  has  continued.  A 
glance  at  a  modern  railway  map  will  show  the  base 
on  which  the  German  Empire  now  rests.  It  is  the 
old  Brandenburg  and  Elbe  system  continued  to  the 
minerals  of  Westphalia.  The  lines  of  traffic  run  east 
and  west  from  the  Rhine  to  Moscow.  They  centre 
in  Berlin,  and  have  their  outlet  at  Hamburg.  The 
chief  of  these  lines  are  those  from  Frankfort  and 
Cologne  to  Berlin,  and  from  Berlin  to  St.  Petersburg, 
Warsaw,  and  Breslau.  South  Germany  has  never 
yet  been  thoroughly  amalgamated  with  Prussia,  be- 
cause their  trade-routes  do  not  exactly  converge. 
Now,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  lines  north  and 
south  naturally  pass  through  Leipsic  and  Cologne 
rather  than  Berlin,  with  the  exception  of  that  to  the 
Erzgebirge,  which  is  in  the  Elbe  valley. 

After  the  wars  of  Peter  and  of  Frederick  the  Great, 
Poland  lay  like  a  wedge  between  the  two  great  wings 
of  the  overland  system.  Poland  had  been  created  by 
the  same  conditions  which  had  created  the  Hanseatic 
League,  and  as  long  as  commerce  flowed  from  south 
to  north,  both  organisms  retained  their  vitality.  In 
the  Middle  Ages,  much  of  the  Hungarian  traffic 
passed    from    the    Danube   at    Buda   to   the   upper 


IV.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 47 

Vistula  at  Cracow,  and  thence  floated  down  to  Dant- 
zic  and  the  Baltic.  Thus  the  Fuggers  sent  their 
copper  to  Antwerp.  Accordingly  Cracow  developed 
into  the  chief  local  market,  and  as  such  became  the 
capital  of  Poland.  In  1320  Ladislaus  made  it  the 
royal  residence,  in  1364  Casimir  III.  founded  its 
famous  university,  and  during  the  sixteenth  century 
the  city  reached  its  highest  prosperity  contempo- 
raneously with  the  prosperity  of  Augsburg  and  the 
Fuggers.  In  the  seventeenth  century  the  decline 
began,  just  at  the  dawn  of  Berlin's  fortune.  In 
1609  the  court  moved  down  the  Vistula  to  Warsaw, 
which  lies  at  the  point  where  the  river  approaches 
Moscow  nearest,  on  the  line  between  Moscow,  Smo- 
lensk, Berlin,  and  Leipsic.  Cracow  then  decayed 
fast,  and  in  1734  had  fallen  so  low  that  it  had  ceased 
to  be  used  even  as  the  royal  burial-place.  The 
migration  of  the  capital  of  a  country  is  demon- 
stration of  a  displacement  of  trade-routes  and  of 
energy. 

Therefore  the  evidence  shows  that,  by  the  time  of 
the  death  of  Peter  the  Great,  the  direction  of  the 
circulation  of  eastern  and  central  Europe  had  changed 
from  the  north  and  south  arteries,  to  the  east  and 
west,  and  with  this  change  the  cause  which  had  cre- 
ated Poland  vanished.  Accordingly  the  kingdom 
dissolved,  a  portion  of  it  gravitating  toward  the  sys- 
tem of  the  Danube,  and  the  remainder  dividing 
between  the  two  powerful  organisms  which  admin- 
istered the  transcontinental  highways.  The  first 
partition  of  Poland  occurred  in  1775,  the  last  in 
1795.  Such  an  unification  of  interests  by  cheapen- 
ing  communications,  sharpened   competition  at   the 


148  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap.  nr. 

termini,  and  one  of  its  effects  was  to  make  the  posi- 
tion of  France  untenable. 

During  the  third  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century 
France  fell  into  isolation.  Ejected  from  Canada  and 
India,  she  could  play  no  part  in  the  maritime  ex- 
changes which  centred  in  London  ;  while  she  lay 
beyond  the  zone  of  the  Russian  thoroughfares,  which 
converged  at  Berlin  and  ended  at  Hamburg.  From 
the  close  of  the  administration  of  Colbert  France  de- 
clined apace.  Under  her  antique  organization  she 
competed  at  a  loss,  until  a  chronic  deficit  became  insol- 
vency. Then,  nerving  herself  for  a  supreme  effort, 
she  simpUfied  her  methods  of  administration,  and 
struck  at  her  rivals. 


CHAPTER   V 

When  the  explorations  of  Vasco  da  Gama  caused 
the  migration  of  the  dominant  market  from  Italy  to 
the  Atlantic  coast  of  Europe,  a  struggle  began,  be- 
tween Spain,  France,  Holland,  and  England,  for  the 
control  of  the  ocean  routes  to  India.  Spain  suc- 
cumbed early,  Holland  had  not  the  bulk  to  contend 
successfully,  and  France  and  England  were  thus 
left,  toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  to 
fight  out  the  battle  alone. 

The  disadvantages  under  which  France  labored 
from  her  position  at  the  extremity  of  a  long  peninsula, 
isolated  from  her  neighbors  because  of  her  converg- 
ing waterways,  and  yet  exposed  to  their  attack,  has 
been  described ;  but  certain  peculiarities  of  the  Gallic 
temperament  also  operated  strongly  against  her. 
Most  of  the  modern  Latin  races  seem  to  have  inher- 
ited, in  more  or  less  degree,  the  rigidity  of  the  Roman 
mind.  The  Spaniards  have  always  been  tenacious 
of  their  traditions,  and  the  French  have  found  social 
innovation  so  difficult,  that  they  have  preferred  to 
try  to  crush  competitors  by  arms,  rather  than  to 
undersell  them  by  economics  which  would  necessi- 
tate changes  in  local  customs.  The  Romans  dis- 
played the  same  instinct  throughout  their  history. 
Beck,  in  his  History  of  Iron,  has  given  an  interesting 
example   of    how   injuriously   conservatism   affected 

149 


150  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

manufacturing:  "This  patriotic  dogmatism,  which  is 
peculiar  to  the  French,  seriously  influenced  the 
development  of  their  iron  industry  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  ...  It  stood  in  the  way  of  a  progressive 
development,  since  the  hostility  to  England  prevented 
the  French  from  recognizing  without  prejudice  the 
superiority  of  the  English  in  the  domain  of  forging, 
so  that  the  greatest  improvements,  especially  in  the 
use  of  coal,  gained  entrance  into  France  much  more 
slowly  than  into  Germany."  ^ 

When  Spain  sank,  England  did  not  rise  very 
rapidly.  Holland  profited  more  immediately  by  the 
sack  of  Antwerp.  From  the  opening  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  the  maritime  provinces  fattened  upon 
the  war  with  Spain ;  they  captured  the  Moluccas, 
robbed  American  galleons,  and  even  blockaded  Lis- 
bon and  Cadiz.  At  length  Spain  could  endure  the 
drain  no  longer,  and  in  1609  Philip  III.  recognized 
the  independence  of  the  Dutch.  Forthwith  Amster- 
dam became  the  leading  port  of  Europe,  and  the 
Bank  of  Amsterdam  the  most  powerful  financial 
corporation  in  the  world.  From  16 10  onward 
Amsterdam  throve,  while  France  almost  contempo- 
raneously, under  Richelieu,  entered  upon  a  period  of 
centralization,  which  ended  in  1653  with  the  collapse 
of  the  Fronde.  Mazarin  died  in  1661.  Louis  XIV. 
then  began  his  active  life,  and  France  soon  saw  her 
greatest  epoch.  Never  before  or  since  has  France  so 
nearly  succeeded  in  establishing  a  supremacy  over 
Europe,  as  in  the  third  quarter  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Louis  XIV.  was  the  first  potentate  of  his 
age ;  his  army  the  largest  and  the  best  organized,  his 

1  Die  Geschichte  des  Eisens,  Ludwig  Beck,  III.,  997,  998. 


V.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  151 

generals  the  most  renowned  ;  his  navy,  though  not 
perhaps  the  most  numerous,  yielded  to  none  in  qual- 
ity ;  his  court  was  the  most  magnificent,  and  his 
capital  the  most  materially  and  intellectually  brilliant. 
All  the  world  admired  and  imitated  Paris.  On  the 
one  hand,  Moliere,  Racine,  La  Fontaine,  Bossuet, 
Fenelon,  and  many  others  raised  letters  and  science 
to  an  unrivalled  eminence ;  on  the  other,  Versailles 
ruled  absolutely  in  fashion.  As  Macaulay  has  ob- 
served, the  authority  of  France  "  was  supreme  in  all 
matters  of  good  breeding,  from  a  duel  to  a  minuet. 
She  determined  how  a  gentleman's  coat  must  be  cut, 
how  long  his  peruke  must  be ;  whether  his  heels 
must  be  high  or  low,  and  whether  the  lace  on  his  hat 
must  be  broad  or  narrow.  In  literature  she  gave 
law  to  the  world.  The  fame  of  her  great  writers 
filled  Europe." 

Nevertheless,  brilUant  as  had  been  her  success 
elsewhere,  in  one  department  France  betrayed  weak- 
ness. The  French  people  were  innately  conservative. 
While  centuries  of  war,  accentuated  by  foreign  con- 
quest, had  finally  consolidated  the  nation  in  a  mihtary 
mass  which  could  be  marshalled  by  a  single  will,  in 
habits  of  life  and  methods  of  business  the  ancient 
provinces  remained  nearly  as  foreign  to  each  other 
as  they  had  been  during  the  Middle  Ages.  They 
declined  to  amalgamate,  and  though  the  king  occasion- 
ally exercised  an  arbitrary  power  in  matters  of  police, 
in  financial  administration  he  was  nearly  helpless. 
The  inferiority  of  France,  relatively  to  her  neighbors, 
lay  chiefly  in  the  cost  of  domestic  communication, 
which,  because  of  converging  rivers,  should  have 
been  cheap.     Colbert  proposed  to  abolish  all  internal 


152  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

tariffs.  Pierre  C16ment,  Colbert's  biographer,  has  thus 
described  the  obstructions  which  then  prevailed  :  — 

"  The  provinces  called  the  '  five  great  farms '  as- 
sented. Others  who  refused,  because  of  their  per- 
sistence in  isolating  themselves,  were  designated 
under  the  name  of  'foreign  provinces.'  Lastly,  they 
gave  the  name  of  *  provinces  reputed  foreign '  to 
a  final  category.  The  districts  comprised  in  this 
category  were,  in  reality,  completely  assimilated  to 
foreign  countries,  with  which  they  traded  freely  with- 
out paying  any  duties.  For  the  same  reason,  the 
merchandise  they  sent  into  other  portions  of  the 
kingdom  was  considered  as  coming  from  abroad, 
and  that  which  they  bought  paid,  on  entering  their 
territory,  the  same  duty  as  if  brought  from  abroad."  ^ 

Trade  languished,  for  the  tariff  of  Languedoc  had 
no  more  relation  to  that  of  Provence  than  either  had 
to  that  of  Spain  ;  and  even  the  provincial  tariffs  were 
trifling  beside  the  rates  and  tolls  of  towns  and  bar- 
onies. Thirty  dues  were  collected  between  Lyons 
and  Aries,  and  manufacturers  of  Lyons  complained 
bitterly  of  the  rigor  of  the  taxes  of  Valence.  A  bale 
of  silk,  they  said,  paid  three  times  before  it  could  be 
used.  Merchants  protested  that  the  city  closed  the 
river.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  conservatism,  no 
people  has  ever  better  loved  lucre  than  the  French, 
and  this  yearning  for  wealth  became  incarnate  in  the 
great  minister  of  finance  of  Louis  XIV. 

Jean  Baptiste  Colbert,  the  son  of  a  draper  of 
Rheims,  was  born  in  1619,  in  humble  circumstances. 
Little  is  known  of  his  youth,  but  at  twenty  he  took 
service  as    a  clerk  in  the  War  Department,  and  in 

1  Histoire  de  Colbert,  Clement,  I.,  291,  292. 


V.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  1 53 

165 1  he  passed  into  the  employment  of  Mazarin. 
There  he  prospered,  and  in  1659  ^i^d  risen  high 
enough  to  dream  of  destroying  Fouquet. 

The  farming  of  the  direct  taxes  formed,  perhaps, 
the  most  noxious  part  of  a  decaying  system,  and  it 
was  in  the  collection  and  disbursement  of  taxes  that 
Fouquet  ran  riot.  Louis  himself  afterward  averred 
that  the  "  way  in  which  receipts  and  expenses  were 
handled  passed  belief."  Subject  to  little  or  no 
supervision,  Fouquet  appropriated  vast  sums.  His 
famous  palace  of  Vaux,  Voltaire  asserted,  cost 
i8,cxDO,ooo  livres,  and  all  agreed  that  it  outshone  St- 
Germain  or  Fontainebleau.  France  dreamed  of 
becoming  the  centre  of  European  industries,  and 
Colbert  conceived  his  mission  to  be  the  realization  of 
this  dream.  To  attain  his  end,  he  proposed  to  build 
up  manufactures  by  bounties  and  grants  of  privi- 
leges ;  but  he  also  comprehended  that  to  make 
industries  profitable  he  must  reduce  waste.  Under 
Louis  XIV.  Fouquet  embodied  the  principle  of  waste  ; 
therefore  Colbert  attacked  Fouquet,  and  rose  upon 
his  ruin.  When,  however,  Colbert  had  attained  to 
power,  he  paused.  He  improved  methods  of  account- 
ing, but,  raised  to  an  eminence,  he  saw  that  existing 
customs  went  to  the  root  of  contemporary  life,  and 
that  the  reorganization  of  the  administration  meant 
the  reorganization  of  society,  or,  in  other  words,  a 
revolution.  Yet  he  could  not  stand  still  and  maintain 
himself. 

International  competition  cannot  be  permanently 
sustained  on  a  great  scale  by  bounties  ;  for  bounties 
mean  producing  at  a  loss.  Bounties  may  be  useful 
as  a  weapon  of  attack,  but  they  cannot,  in  the  long 


154  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

run,  bring  in  money  from  abroad  ;  for  they  simply 
transfer  the  property  of  one  citizen  to  another  by 
means  of  a  tax.  One  nation  can  gain  from  another 
only  by  cheaper  production.  If  a  certain  process 
is  dearer  than  another,  the  assumption  of  a  portion 
of  the  cost  by  the  state  cannot  make  the  transaction 
profitable  to  the  community  at  large,  though  it  may 
to  the  recipient  of  the  grant.  The  Continental  sugar 
bounties,  for  example,  have  doubtless  been  successful 
in  enfeebling  England  by  ruining  her  colonies,  and 
they  have  also  enriched  the  makers  of  beet  sugar ; 
but  they  have  never,  probably,  been  lucrative  to 
France  or  Germany. 

Like  any  other  corporation,  a  nation  can  live 
beyond  its  means  as  long  as  its  own  savings  last,  or 
as  long  as  it  can  borrow  the  savings  of  others ;  and 
now  accumulations  are  so  large  that  a  country,  like 
Russia,  can  maintain  itself  long  on  credit.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  accumulations  were  compara- 
tively slender,  and  Colbert  came  quickly  to  the 
parting  of  the  ways.  He  understood  that  to  simplify 
the  internal  organization  of  the  kingdom  sufficiently 
to  put  it  upon  a  footing  of  competitive  equality  with 
Holland  or  England  would  involve  the  reconstruction 
of  society ;  yet  to  continue  manufacturing  on  the  ex- 
isting basis,  which  entailed  a  loss,  could  only  be  made 
possible  by  means  of  loans,  for  the  people  were 
sinking  under  taxation.  Colbert  judged  that  he 
could  not  borrow  safely  upon  the  necessary  scale ; 
and  thus  the  minister,  very  early  in  his  career,  found 
himself  forced  to  make  the  choice  which,  under  such 
conditions,  must  always,  sooner  or  later,  be  made, 
between   insolvency,   revolution,    and   war.      If   left 


V.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 55 

undisturbed,  the  mechanism  which  operates  cheapest 
will  in  the  end  supplant  all  others ;  and  this  funda- 
mental truth  Colbert  learned.  In  three  years  after 
he  had  entered  upon  his  task  he  had  broken  down. 
In  1664  he  formulated  a  scheme,  part  of  which  was  a 
liberal  tariff,  and  part  the  simplification  of  internal 
fiscal  usages.  He  dared  not  press  his  reform,  and, 
as  waste  continued,  his  whole  policy  fell,  and  with  it 
fell  his  industrial  system.  The  cost  of  production 
remained  higher  in  France  than  in  Holland,  therefore 
commercial  exchanges  went  against  the  kingdom ; 
and  in  1667,  to  correct  exchanges  and  prevent  a 
drain  of  specie,  Colbert  resorted  to  a  prohibitive 
tariff,  or,  in  the  words  of  his  biographer,  tried  the 
experiment  of  "  selling  without  buying." 

This  course  struck  at  the  fountain  of  Dutch  life. 
Holland  being  the  distributing  centre  of  Europe,  her 
prosperity  depended  on  keeping  open  the  avenues  of 
trade.  If  she  allowed  foreign  countries  to  be  closed 
against  her,  while  her  market  remained  free,  she 
might  be  suffocated  by  the  bounty-fed  exports  of 
France.  Germany  has  recently  suffocated  the  West 
Indies  by  identical  methods.  The  Dutch  understood 
the  situation  perfectly,  and  Van  Beuningen,  the 
ambassador  of  the  Provinces  in  Paris,  thus  explained 
his  views  in  a  letter  to  John  de  Witt,  "  Since  the 
French  exclude  all  the  manufactures  of  the  United 
Provinces,  means  must  be  found,  as  complaints  are 
useless,  to  prevent  them  from  filling  the  country 
with  theirs,  and  thus  draw  from  us  our  quick 
capital." 

As  a  financier  Colbert  constitutionally  disliked  war, 
more  especially  as  war  was  not  his  trade,    and,   if 


156  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

successful,  would  redound  more  to  his  rival,  Louvois's, 
glory  than  to  his  own.  Without  any  question  Colbert 
would  have  kept  peace  could  he  have  done  so  and 
sustained  the  industrial  system,  with  which  his  for- 
tunes were  bound  up.  For  these  reasons  some  of 
Colbert's  partisans  have  maintained  that  he  always 
deprecated  the  Dutch  campaign.  He  certainly 
pondered  the  crisis  long  and  anxiously,  for  it  involved 
his  tenure  of  office,  as  well  as  the  destiny  of  France ; 
but  a  perusal  of  his  correspondence  can  leave  no 
open  mind  in  doubt  in  which  direction  he  found  the 
path  of  least  resistance.  The  published  documents 
abundantly  justify  Pierre  Clement's  conclusion,  that 
"  this  time,  at  least,  the  only  one  perhaps,  [Colbert 
and  Louvois]  worked  with  an  equal  ardor  to  attain  a 
common  end."  ^  Colbert  discussed  the  situation  in 
all  its  bearings,  and  dilated  upon  his  disappointments 
and  mortifications.  In  1669  he  lamented  the  stagna- 
tion of  French  commerce.  He  estimated  that,  out  of 
the  20,000  ships  doing  the  traffic  of  the  world,  the 
Dutch  owned  15,000  or  16,000,  and  the  French  500  or 
600  at  most.  The  final  blow,  which  is  said  to  have 
almost  broken  his  heart,  fell  in  1670,  when,  just  as 
the  French  East  India  Company  admitted  itself  to  be 
practically  insolvent,  the  Dutch  Company  divided 
forty  per  cent.  From  that  moment  Colbert  recog- 
nized peaceful  competition  as  impossible,  and  nerved 
himself  for  war.  In  May,  1672,  Turenne  crossed  the 
frontier  at  the  head  of  a  great  army,  and  the  cam- 
paign opened  which  is  the  point  of  departure  for  all 
subsequent  European  history  down  to  Waterloo. 
Nor  was  the  action  of  Colbert  exceptional.     On  the 

^  Histoire  de  Colbert,  Clement,  I.,  303. 


V.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  1 57 

contrary,  he  obeyed  a  natural  law.  Every  animal, 
when  cornered,  will  fight,  and  every  nation  always 
has  fought  and  always  will  fight  when  war  offers  the 
path  of  least  resistance.  Competition  is  a  choice  of 
weapons.  The  French  chose  arms,  and  in  this  case 
they  were  justified  by  the  apparent  probabilities  of  a 
conflict. 

Considered  as  a  means  of  competition,  war  must 
be  regarded  as  a  speculation ;  a  hazardous  one,  it  is 
true,  but  one  to  be  tried,  where  the  chance  of  gain 
outweighs  the  risk  of  loss.  To  Colbert  it  seemed,  in 
1672,  that  he  risked  little,  and  might  win  much. 

His  deadhest  enemy  lay  before  him,  rich  and 
defenceless.  There  could  be  no  doubt  as  to  the 
value  of  the  spoil,  should  Louis  prevail.  Amsterdam 
was  opulent.  As  late  as  the  time  of  Adam  Smith, 
the  Bank  of  Amsterdam  held  the  position  occupied 
by  the  Bank  of  England  during  the  last  century, 
while  the  commerce  of  the  country  exceeded  that  of 
all  the  other  nations  combined.  Furthermore,  if 
Holland  was  rich,  she  was  peaceful.  The  navy  still 
retained  some  degree  of  energy,  but  the  army  was 
both  small  and  of  poor  quality.  The  urban  popula- 
tion of  the  Provinces  had  not  won  credit  in  battle, 
even  during  the  revolt  against  Spain,  and  in  the 
years  which  had  intervened  since  Alva's  victories  it 
was  believed  to  have  deteriorated.  Lastly,  the  Dutch 
were  divided;  the  Orange  and  De  Witt  factions  hat- 
ing each  other  as  bitterly  as  they  hated  Louis. 

Conversely,  France  stood  as  a  military  unit.  The 
king's  will  met  with  no  opposition.  Louvois's  ad- 
ministration far  surpassed  anything  then  existing. 
Throughout  the  army  the  officers  were  excellent,  and 


158  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

Turenne  and  Conde  had  no  rivals  as  leaders  in  the 
field.  The  whole  force  of  the  community  could  be 
utihzed,  for  the  peasants  could  be  drafted  into  the 
ranks,  and  the  nobles  served  from  choice.  The  odds 
were  very  great,  and  Colbert  counted  them  as  a  man 
of  business.  Colbert  understood  perfectly  that  he 
was  playing  for  high  stakes,  but  he  thought  the  dice 
were  loaded,  and,  under  the  circumstances,  felt  justi- 
fied in  taking  the  risk.  The  country  was  in  a  dilemma. 
Much  money  had  been  invested  in  commerce  and 
industry.  These  were  undersold  by  the  Dutch,  and 
as  matters  stood  the  investment  would  be  lost.  Could 
Holland  be  crushed,  competition  would  cease,  and 
not  only  would  the  capital  already  embarked  be 
safe,  but  it  would  be  advantageous  to  employ  more. 
Social  reform  had  been  tried  and  failed. 

Against  these  manifold  advantages  was  to  be  reck- 
oned the  outlay  for  hostilities ;  for  Colbert,  probably, 
never  contemplated  the  possibility  of  ultimate  defeat. 
The  expense  promised  to  be  light.  The  soldiers 
all  thought  that  a  few  weeks,  or  at  most  months, 
would  put  Holland  in  the  hands  of  the  French.  At 
first,  indeed,  it  seemed  that  no  serious  resistance 
would  be  attempted.  The  Dutch  troops  fled  or  sur- 
rendered; the  towns  opened  their  gates.  In  June 
the  French  threatened  Amsterdam.  Scandal  even 
asserted  that  nothing  saved  the  city  but  Louvois's 
jealousy,  who  feared  that  an  immediate  peace  might 
exalt  Colbert  too  far.  Colbert,  on  his  side,  felt  the 
victory  won,  and  in  those  days  of  triumph  laid  bare 
the  recesses  of  his  heart.  In  a  memorandum  sub- 
mitted to  the  king  he  explained  the  use  to  be  made 
of  victory.      The   paper   may  be  read  in    Colberfs 


V.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 59 

Letters  and  Memoirs}  Its  ferocity  is  convincing. 
In  substance  he  proposed  to  confiscate  the  best  of 
the  Dutch  commerce,  and  to  exclude  the  Dutch  from 
the  Mediterranean.  Nevertheless,  France  was  van- 
quished. In  July  William  of  Orange  became  stadt- 
holder,  opened  the  dikes,  and  laid  the  country  under 
water.  Six  years  later  Colbert  purchased  peace,  not 
only  by  the  surrender  of  the  tariff  on  which  he  had 
staked  his  hopes,  but  by  accepting  a  provision  in  the 
treaty  of  Nimwegen,  stipulating  that  in  future  free- 
dom of  commerce  between  the  two  countries  should 
not  be  abridged. 

Thus  Colbert  failed  in  his  speculation,  and  hav- 
ing failed,  like  any  unsuccessful  speculator,  he  fell. 
Louvois  succeeded  him,  as  he  had  succeeded  Fouquet ; 
but  the  preponderance  of  Louvois  meant  the  triumph 
of  conservatism,  and  the  postponement  of  social 
changes  in  favor  of  war.  In  1672  France  lacked 
the  flexibility  to  shed  an  obsolete  system,  and  suffered 
accordingly.  She  succumbed  because  of  administra- 
tive waste.  Had  she  been  able  in  1672  to  effect  some 
portion  of  the  simplification  which  occurred  between 
1793  and  1795,  London  might  not  have  become  the 
imperial  market  during  the  nineteenth  century. 
Under  Louis  XIV.  France  broke  down  through 
waste.  With  cheap  administration  she  might  not 
have  needed  war  to  enable  her  to  compete ;  but  if 
war  had  come,  her  economic  endurance  would  have 
exceeded  the  endurance  of  Holland.  Holland  ab- 
sorbed, resistance  by  the  rest  of  Europe  would  have 
been  difificult.  No  Dutch  stadtholder  could  have 
been  crowned   in    England,  and   no  coalition  would 

^  Lettres  et  Memoires  de  Colbert,  Clement,  II.,  65S. 


l6o  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

have  been  formed  such  as  that  afterward  cemented 
by  William  of  Orange.  William's  league  survived 
him,  and  lasted  for  twenty-five  years.  It  proved 
profitable.  It  crushed  France  and  humbled  Louis, 
who,  old  and  broken,  sued  for  peace  after  the  disas- 
ters of  Blenheim  and  Malplaquet.  Two  years  sub- 
sequent to  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  Louis  died,  and 
under  his  successor  the  kingdom  plunged  onward 
toward  its  doom.  At  last  the  monarchy  fell,  not 
because  it  was  cruel  or  oppressive,  but  because  it 
represented,  in  the  main,  a  mass  of  mediaeval  usages 
which  had  hardened  into  a  shell,  incompatible  with 
the  exigencies  of  modern  life.  Under  it,  a  social 
movement  of  equal  velocity  to  that  which  prevailed 
elsewhere  could  not  be  maintained.  What  French- 
men craved  in  1789  was  not  an  ideal  called  "lib- 
erty," consisting  of  certain  political  conventions,  but 
an  administrative  system  which  would  put  them 
on  an  economic  equality  with  their  neighbors.  De 
Tocqueville  perceived  this  forty-five  years  ago : 
"  Something  worthy  of  remark  is  that,  among  all 
the  ideas  and  sentiments  which  have  prepared  the 
Revolution,  the  idea  and  the  taste  for  public  Hberty, 
properly  so  called,  presented  themselves  the  last,  as 
they  were  the  first  to  disappear."  ^ 

One  hundred  and  forty-three  years  separated  the 
Dutch  War  from  Waterloo,  nearly  half  of  which  were 
filled  with  desperate  fighting.  On  the  whole,  France 
steadily  lost  ground ;  her  defective  administration 
weighed  too  heavily.  Evicted  from  Canada  and  India, 
she  tended  more  and  more  toward  commercial  eccen- 
tricity, while   England,  by  the  development   of   her 

^  VAncien  Regime  et  la  Revolution,  7th  ed.,  p.  233. 


V.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  l6l 

minerals,  distanced  her  industrially.  So  far  as  peace- 
ful competition  went,  France  stood  relatively  less 
advantageously  toward  the  United  Kingdom,  after 
the  readjustment  which  ended  in  the  empire,  than 
she  had  toward  Holland  in  1667,  even  under  the 
inequahties  of  the  old  monarchy.  Napoleon  judged 
the  situation  much  like  Colbert,  only,  being  a  soldier, 
he  felt  no  repugnance  to  the  remedy.  He  proposed 
to  displace  the  seat  of  international  exchanges  by 
making  London  costly  as  a  market,  very  much  as 
Philip  had  made  Antwerp  costly  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  To  accomplish  this  end,  three  methods  of 
procedure  lay  open  to  him.  They  were  of  varying 
degrees  of  complexity ;  he  tried  them  in  order,  the 
simplest  first. 

Napoleon  saw  that,  if  he  could  destroy  the  British 
navy,  he  might  invade  the  islands  directly,  or  isolate 
them  by  cutting  their  communications  with  America 
or  India,  or  both.  Failing  in  a  naval  battle,  he 
might  close  the  Continent  to  English  trade,  and  by 
stopping  sales  cause  insolvency.  After  insolvency  he 
counted  on  surrender.  Lastly,  he  nourished  the  idea 
of  marching  on  India  overland  and  conquering  the 
British  base.  As  a  sea  victory  would  be  the  most  ef- 
fective and  cheapest,  he  risked  Trafalgar.  His  defeat 
fell  on  October  21,  1805,  and  instantly  he  addressed 
himself  to  maturing  new  combinations.  Perhaps  no 
great  captain  ever  conceived  plans  at  once  so  stupen- 
dous, so  logical,  and  so  chimerical.  Yet  he  acted 
with  incomparable  energy  and  fixity  of  purpose. 

As  he  wrote  to  Joseph,  "I  have  150,000  men  in 
Germany.  I  can  with  that  subdue  Vienna,  Berlin,  St. 
Petersburg."  On  September  26,  1806,  the  emperor  set 


1 62  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

forth  on  the  Jena  campaign.  On  October  14  he  fought 
Jena,  on  October  27  his  army  entered  Berlin,  and  on 
November  21  he  issued  the  celebrated  Berlin  decree. 
By  this  decree  he  declared  the  British  islands  under 
blockade,  prohibited  intercourse  with  them,  con- 
demned, as  prize  of  war,  merchandise  coming  from 
them,  and  excluded  neutral  shipping,  cleared  from  the 
United  Kingdom  or  her  colonies,  from  the  ports  of  his 
dominions.  Napoleon  issued  this  decree  in  anticipa- 
tion of  the  Friedland  campaign,  for  he  understood 
that,  with  Russia  independent,  it  must  be  inoperative. 
Merchandise  landed  on  the  coast  of  the  Baltic  would 
always  leak  across  the  border  into  Germany  by  land. 
Therefore  Russia  must  be  dominated.  On  February 
8,  1807,  he  fought  the  bloody  battle  of  Eylau,  and 
failed,  but  on  June  14  he  triumphed  at  Friedland, 
and  Alexander  capitulated.  By  the  secret  treaty 
signed  at  Tilsit,  the  Czar  promised  to  "  make  common 
cause  with  France  "  against  England,  should  England, 
after  a  specified  time,  decline  Napoleon's  terms  of 
peace. 

Looking  back  at  this  great  struggle  for  supremacy 
from  the  distance  of  a  century,  it  appears  to  have 
proceeded  from  premise  to  conclusion  with  the  pre- 
cision of  a  mathematical  demonstration.  Placed  at 
the  extremity  of  the  European  peninsula,  and  prac- 
tically isolated,  France  and  England  fought  for  the 
ocean  trade-routes  east  and  west,  because  the  ocean 
routes  were  the  cheapest.  England  being  in  posses- 
sion, and  after  Trafalgar  and  Copenhagen  unassailable 
by  sea.  Napoleon  had  to  control  the  rival  system,  or 
the  overland  routes  to  India,  in  order  to  cut  the 
communications  of  his  rival.     He  had  no  alternative. 


V.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  1 63 

To  succeed,  he  could  either  occupy  Moscow  himself, 
or  reduce  the  Czar  to  a  point  where  he  would  serve 
as  his  agent.  Nor  was  this  all.  Napoleon  considered 
the  problem  in  all  its  bearings,  and  worked  it  out  in 
its  minutest  details.  India  was  his  objective  point, 
but  he  perceived  that  it  would  make  no  difference 
to  Russia  whether  France  or  England  held  the 
peninsula  ;  competition  between  the  land  and  water 
routes  would  continue,  and  Russia  would  be  inimical 
to  the  victor.  In  fine,  he  foresaw  the  inevitable 
jealousy  which  afterward  disturbed  the  relations  of 
Great  Britain  and  Russia. 

The  emperor  judged  that  cordial  relations  could 
not  long  continue  between  himself  and  Alexander, 
even  should  he  confine  his  advance  on  Hindustan  to 
the  sea ;  but  he  knew  full  well  that  if  the  French 
should  occupy  central  Asia,  they  would  stab  Russian 
society  in  its  vitals.  This  measure  Napoleon  seri- 
ously contemplated.  In  1807  he  sent  General  Gar- 
dane  to  Persia  on  a  topographical  mission  to  report 
on  the  military  routes,  and  he  even  made  a  treaty 
with  the  Shah  of  Persia  in  which  this  paragraph 
occurred,  "  If  his  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  the  French 
should  decide  to  send  an  army  by  land  to  attack  the 
English  possessions  in  India,  his  Majesty  the  Em- 
peror of  Persia,  as  a  good  and  faithful  ally,  will  allow 
him  passage  through  his  territory."  ^ 

For  these  reasons  Napoleon  refused  all  material 
concessions  to  Russia,  whether  such  concessions 
touched  the  partition  of  Turkey   or  the  fate  of  the 

1  Mission  du  General  Gardane  en  Perse  sous  le  premier  empire, 
Alfred  de  Gardane;  and  see  also,  on  this  whole  subject,  Napoleon  et 
Alexandre  /.,  Vandal,  I.,  Chap.  VI, 


1 64  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

Duchy  of  Warsaw.  At  the  same  time  he  vigorously 
urged  Alexander  to  renounce  communication,  direct 
or  indirect,  with  Great  Britain.  No  one  knew  better 
than  Bonaparte  the  strain  to  which  he  exposed  the 
Russian  organism,  nor  did  it  displease  him  that  it 
should  be  intense.  If  bankruptcy  supervened  and 
disintegration  followed,  France  would  be  the  gainer, 
for  Napoleon  assumed  a  rupture  with  Petersburg  to 
be  inevitable  should  England  hold  out,  and  the  Mus- 
covite empire  retain  its  vitality.  In  either  event, 
a  wasting  of  the  Russian  energy  would  make  his 
task  easier,  supposing  him  pushed  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity ;  and  he  calculated  on  being  ready  to  meet 
the  emergency  at  the  end  of  the  two  years  which 
he  allowed  for  the  pacification  of  Spain. 

The  ordinarily  patient  Slavs,  goaded  beyond  en- 
durance, broke  out  into  fierce  denunciation  of  the 
Czar.  The  conversation  in  the  society  of  St.  Peters- 
burg was  regularly  reported  at  Paris,  and  General 
Savary  wrote  bluntly  what  he  thought :  "  The  em- 
peror and  his  minister,  the  Count  Roumanzoff,  are 
the  only  true  friends  of  France  in  Russia ;  this  is  a 
truth  which  it  would  be  dangerous  to  conceal.  The 
nation  would  be  ready  to  take  up  arms,  and  make 
new  sacrifices  for  a  war  against  us."  In  1810  the 
break  came.  Alexander  professed  willingness  to 
fulfil  the  letter  of  his  agreement  at  Tilsit,  and  ex- 
clude British  ships,  but  he  declined  to  exclude 
American.  The  English,  however,  could  sell  to 
Americans,  and  Americans  to  Russians,  and  if  ex- 
changes could  thus  be  effected  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  continent,  through  the  medium  of  neutrals, 
the  attack  on  the   maritime  system  collapsed.     As 


V.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  l6$ 

Napoleon  said,  in  that  war  "there  could  be  no 
neutrals."  In  September  Champagny  wrote  to  Cau- 
laincourt  that  ships  of  all  nationalities,  chiefly  Amer- 
ican, sailed  over  the  Baltic  by  hundreds  and  by 
thousands,  "  like  the  debris  of  a  routed  army."  This 
great  fleet  Bonaparte  commanded  Alexander  to  con- 
fiscate, being  resolved,  in  case  of  disobedience,  to 
use  force.  He  wrote :  "  My  Brother :  .  .  .  Six  hun- 
dred English  ships  wandering  in  the  Baltic,  and 
which  have  been  excluded  from  Mecklenburg  in  Prus- 
sia, are  bound  for  your  Majesty's  dominions.  ...  It 
depends  on  your  Majesty  to  have  peace,  or  to  pro- 
long the  war.  Peace  is  and  ought  to  be  your  desire. 
Your  Majesty  is  certain  that  we  shall  obtain  it  if  you 
confiscate  these  six  hundred  ships  and  their  cargoes. 
Whatever  papers  they  have  .  .  .  your  Majesty  may 
be  sure  that  they  are  English."  The  result  is  thus 
described  by  Henry  Adams  in  his  History  of  the 
United  States :  — 

"The  Czar,  pressed  beyond  endurance,  at  last 
turned  upon  Napoleon  with  an  act  of  defiance  that 
startled  and  delighted  Russia.  December  i  [1810], 
Roumanzoff  communicated  to  Caulaincourt  the  Czar's 
refusal  to  seize,  confiscate,  or  shut  his  ports  against 
colonial  produce.  At  about  the  same  time  the  mer- 
chants of  St.  Petersburg  framed  a  memorial  to  the 
imperial  council,  asking  for  a  general  prohibition 
of  French  luxuries  as  the  only  means  of  preventing 
the  drain  of  specie  and  the  further  depreciation  of 
the  paper  currency.  On  this  memorial  a  hot  debate 
occurred  in  the  imperial  council.  Roumanzoff  op- 
posed the  measure  as  tending  to  a  quarrel  with 
France ;  and  when  overruled,  he  insisted  on  entering 


1 66  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap, 

his  formal  protest  on  the  journal.  The  Czar  acqui- 
esced in  the  majority's  decision,  and  December  19, 
the  imperial  ukase  appeared,  admitting  American 
produce  on  terms  remarkably  liberal,  but  striking  a 
violent  blow  at  the  industries  of  France."  Napoleon 
replied,  "  Your  Majesty  is  wholly  disposed,  as  soon 
as  circumstances  permit  it,  to  make  an  arrangement 
with  England,  which  is  the  same  thing  as  to  kindle 
a  war  between  the  two  empires."  ^ 

In  18 12  Napoleon,  driven  onward  by  the  inexorable 
logic  of  competition,  marched  on  Moscow  to  seize  the 
converging  point  of  the  roads  between  the  interior 
and  the  Baltic ;  and  in  his  campaign  met  destruction. 
It  could  not  have  been  otherwise,  because  of  the 
geographical  position  of  France.  France,  being 
isolated  and  belonging  to  neither  the  maritime  nor  the 
overland  system,  in  order  to  obtain  for  herself  the 
wealth  which  falls  to  the  dominant  market,  attacked 
Great  Britain.  To  prevail  France  had  to  cut  her 
adversaries'  communications,  and,  failing  to  do  so  on 
the  sea,  she  attempted  the  task  on  land.  This  in- 
volved war  with  Russia  and  the  whole  overland 
interest,  and  thus,  with  the  world  allied  against  her, 
France  fell. 

Alexander  the  Great  had  no  such  difficulty  to  face. 
His  problem  admitted  of  solution.  In  Alexander's 
time  the  avenues  east  and  west  converged  within  the 
narrow  space  between  the  Bosphorus  and  Suez, 
Alexander  held  the  Bosphorus.  He  had  therefore 
only  to  march  to  Suez  to  cut  all  connections.  After 
one  decisive  action,  in  which  he  forced  the  passes  into 
Cilicia,  Alexander  drove  the  enemy  before  him,  and 

^  History  of  the  United  States  of  America,  Henry  Adams,  V.,  418. 


V.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 67 

SO  superior  was  his  force  that  his  operations  amounted 
to  little  more  than  clearing  and  garrisoning  the  roads. 
He  had  no  anxiety  for  his  rear,  and  the  war  paid  for 
itself,  as  the  traffic  on  the  thoroughfares  he  seized 
was  the  most  valuable  in  the  world.  Lastly,  as  trade- 
routes  converged,  they  could  be  consolidated  under 
one  administration,  at  a  reasonable  cost,  and  a  stable 
equiUbrium  thus  attained.  The  Roman  Empire  was 
the  natural  successor  of  the  Alexandrine,  and  under 
Rome  peace  prevailed  for  several  centuries,  substan- 
tially unbroken.  Napoleon  failed  because  he  at- 
tempted to  consolidate  various  diverging  systems. 

On  Napoleon's  fall  Great  Britain  w^as  left  in  a  com- 
manding position.  Without  a  rival  on  the  sea,  she 
decisively  undersold  her  overland  competitor,  while 
her  minerals  gave  her  an  effective  monopoly  of 
manufacturing.  For  upward  of  a  half  a  century  she 
enjoyed  these  unparalleled  advantages,  and  it  was 
during  this  period  that  she  amassed  the  wealth  which 
made  her  the  banker  of  the  world.  Instead  of  being 
drained  of  her  bullion,  as  ancient  Italy  had  been, 
England  sold  cottons  to  India,  and  instead  of  having 
to  buy  grain  from  Sicily  and  Egypt,  like  Rome,  her 
own  agriculture,  down  to  1845,  nearly  sufficed  for  her 
wants.  No  such  favorable  conditions  had  perhaps 
ever  existed,  and  an  equilibrium  so  stable  would  have 
apparently  defied  attack,  had  not  the  English  them- 
selves invented  the  locomotive. 

Given  effective  land  transportation,  the  continent 
of  North  America  seems  devised  by  nature  to  be  the 
converging  point  of  the  cheapest  routes  between  Asia 
and  Europe.  Lying  midway  between  the  two  conti- 
nents, which  are  divided  from  each  other  either  by 


1 68  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

vast  expanses  of  water,  or  by  almost  impassable 
deserts  and  mountains,  the  United  States  stretches 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  is  penetrated  by- 
navigable  rivers  and  lakes,  and  is  not  broken  by  dif- 
ficult mountain  ranges.  Even  better,  it  possesses 
almost  all  the  more  important  minerals.  Nevertheless, 
until  the  railway  had  been  perfected  these  advantages 
were  neutralized  by  the  cost  of  carriage,  and  the 
United  States  could  never  have  competed  with  Great 
Britain  had  waterways  retained  the  preeminence  they 
held  prior  to  1850. 

Even  a  generation  ago  competition  remained  much 
upon  the  basis  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Although 
tending  to  shrink,  the  margin  of  profit  stayed  broad 
enough  to  spare  the  individual  trader,  and  distance 
afforded  Europe  a  defence  against  the  attack  of  more 
favored  communities.  America  did  not  harass  France 
or  Germany.  On  the  contrary,  America  offered  them 
the  best  market  for  their  surplus,  the  United  States 
buying  manufactures  with  bulhon,  raw  materials,  or 
food,  and  freight  acting  as  a  protective  tariff  in  favor 
of  European  farmers.  The  case  of  the  United  King- 
dom will  illustrate  an  universal  condition. 

As  late  as  i860  a  marked  disparity  existed  between 
England  and  the  United  States.  While  England's 
exports  of  manufactures  then  reached  $613,000,000, 
those  of  the  Union  only  slightly  exceeded  $40,000,000 ; 
and  while  in  i860  Great  Britain  had  substantially 
completed  her  railroad  system,  that  of  the  United 
States  lay  in  embryo.  Thirty  thousand  miles  of  road 
were  then  in  operation ;  200,000  are  now  in  use, 
and  even  in  1900,  3500  more  were  added.  The 
United  Kingdom,  in  1899,  possessed  altogether  21,700 


V.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 69 

miles,  and  building  has  long  gone  on  at  the  rate  of  a 
hundred  miles  or  so  a  year.  The  burden  of  construc- 
tion on  the  two  communities  can  be  measured.  In 
i860,  with  the  facilities  then  existing,  neither  iron,  nor 
coal,  nor  grain,  nor  meat  could  be  exported  from 
America  in  competition  with  the  product  of  British 
mines  or  farms  ;  while,  on  her  side.  Great  Britain 
could  sell  her  manufactures  in  the  United  States 
almost  at  her  own  price.  Thirty  years  ago,  land 
rates  of  transportation  did  not  approximate  sea  rates; 
therefore,  iron,  for  instance,  could  not  be  brought 
from  the  interior  to  the  ports.  England  had  in  com- 
parison no  land  carriage.  Her  resources  lay  on  the 
coast.  Furthermore,  a  chief  source  of  British  prosper- 
ity was  agriculture.  The  manufacturing  population 
grew  apace ;  eating  much,  yet  producing  no  food. 
Nevertheless  they  paid  for  food  liberally,  because  the 
revenue  from  America  provided  ample  wages.  Thus 
passing  from  hand  to  hand,  the  landlords  finally 
pocketed  the  larger  share  of  American  remittances, 
in  the  shape  of  rent.  The  gentry  consequently 
throve,  habitually  saved  a  part  of  their  incomes,  and 
invested  what  they  saved  either  in  business  paper  or 
in  foreign  securities.  Agriculture  thus  formed  the 
corner-stone  of  the  economic  system  of  Europe  dur- 
ing the  decades  which  ended  with  the  Franco-German 
War. 

Bagehot  wrote  Lombard  Street  between  1870  and 
1873,  and  in  the  introduction  to  that  interesting  essay 
he  inserted  a  passage  which  has  made  luminous  many 
subsequent  phenomena.  Commenting  on  the  loan- 
able funds  always  lying  on  deposit  in  London, 
Bagehot  observed  :  — 


170  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

"  There  are  whole  districts  in  England  which  can- 
not and  do  not  employ  their  own  money.  No  purely 
agricultural  county  does  so.  The  savings  of  a  county 
with  good  land  but  no  manufactures  and  no  trade 
much  exceed  what  can  be  safely  lent  in  the  county. 
These  savings  are  .  .  .  sent  to  London.  ,  .  .  The 
money  thus  sent  up  from  the  accumulating  districts 
is  employed  in  discounting  the  bills  of  the  industrial 
districts.  Deposits  are  made  with  the  bankers  .  .  . 
in  Lombard  Street  by  the  bankers  of  such  counties  as 
Somersetshire  and  Hampshire,  and  those  .  .  .  bank- 
ers employ  them  in  the  discount  of  bills  from  York- 
shire and  Lancashire."  ^ 

Almost  as  Bagehot  wrote  these  words  the  economic 
equilibrium  of  the  world  began  to  shift.  The  move- 
ment started  in  central  Europe.  The  consolidation 
of  Germany  between  1866  and  1870  overthrew 
France,  and  transferred  to  Berlin  a  large  treasure,  in 
the  shape  of  a  war  indemnity.  Besides  entering  on 
a  period  of  mining  and  industrial  expansion,  the  Ger- 
man Empire,  by  means  of  this  treasure,  restricted  its 
coinage  to  gold.  Silver,  being  discarded,  depreciated 
until,  in  1873,  France  also  curtailed  her  silver  coinage, 
and  thus  very  soon  silver  bullion  cut  a  poor  figure 
as  an  asset.  But  to  appreciate  the  catastrophe  which 
followed  it  is  necessary  to  go  back  to  1848,  when  the 
United  States  first  succeeded  in  putting  any  consid- 
erable value  of  metal  upon  the  international  market, 
and  observe  the  creation  of  her  foreign  debt. 

Prior  to  1848,  not  only  had  the  United  States  been 
a  poor  country,  but  she  had  not  prospered  extraor- 
dinarily.    She   had   contended    with    overwhelming 

^  Lombard  Street,  p.  1 2. 


V.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  171 

difficulties.  Her  mass  outweighed  her  energy  and 
her  capital.  Confronted  with  immense  distances, 
and  hindered  from  comprehensive  methods  of  trans- 
portation by  poverty,  she  could  not  compete  with  a 
narrow  and  indented  peninsula  like  Europe.  The 
change  wrought  in  these  conditions  by  the  influx  of 
gold  was  magical. 

In  the  three  years  1800-1802  the  imports  averaged,  $93,000,000 
In  the  three  years  1 848-1 850  the  imports  averaged,  154.000,000 
In  the  three  years  1858-1860  the  imports  averaged,    316,000,000 

That  is  to  say,  there  was  an  increase  of  66  per  cent 
in  half  a  century,  and  of  over  100  per  cent  in  a 
decade. 

Exports  during  1 800-1 802  averaged  ....  $78,000,000 
Exports  during  1 848-1 850  averaged  ....  140,000,000 
Exports  during  1858-1860  averaged  ....     299,000,000 

A  ratio  of  growth  of  80  per  cent  in  fifty  years,  as 
against  upwards  of  ichd  per  cent  in  ten. 

Iron  was  equally  remarkable.  In  1847  the  exports 
of  iron  and  steel  stood  at  $929,000;  in  1858  they  had 
quintupled,  reaching  $4,884,000;  while  the  authori- 
ties hold  that  the  modern  era  of  iron-making  opened 
in  1855,  But,  perhaps,  the  most  impressive  of  these 
phenomena  was  the  accumulation  of  capital.  In 
1848  the  total  deposits  in  the  sa\dngs  banks  amounted 
to  $33,087,488,  an  average  per  capita  of  $1.52.  In 
i860  they  reached  $149,277,504,  an  average  per 
capita  of  $4.75.  This  corresponds  pretty  well  with 
the  growth  in  purchasing  power  consequent  on  the 
yield  of  the  mines.  Between  1792  and  1847,  ^^e  an- 
nual production  of  gold  and  silver  had  been  less  than 


1/2 


THE  NEW   EMPIRE 


^500,000;  in  1848  it  passed  ;^io,ooo,ooo,  and  in  1850 
^50,000,000. 

As  America  was  organized  in  1848,  all  bulky  com- 
modities lying  in  the  interior,  away  from  navigable 
waterways,  were  unavailable,  but  gold  and  silver, 
being  portable,  could  be  shipped  abroad  and  sold. 
They  were  sold,  and  from  their  sale  came  both  cap- 
ital and  credit.  A  satisfactory  railroad  system 
was  thereafter  attainable.  The  United  States  real- 
ized her  opportunity  and  strained  her  means  to  the 
uttermost.  The  debt  contracted  between  i860  and 
1893  cannot  be  computed,  but  its  magnitude  may  be 
conceived  from  the  fact  that  35,000  miles  of  railway 
having  been  built  up  to  1865,  142,000  miles  more 
were  added  between  1865  and  1893,  that  during  the 
decade  preceding  1893  construction  had  exceeded 
6000  miles  annually,  and  that  in  1894  the  total  lia- 
bilities of  the  roads  reached  ;^  1 1 ,000,000,000.  And 
this  huge  debt  constituted  only  a  portion  of  the  mort- 
gage on  the  future,  which  the  nation  had  contracted 
to  obtain  internal  improvements  and  to  defray  the 
waste  of  war.  Such  figures  convey  little  impression 
to  the  mind.  Perhaps  it  may  aid  the  imagination  to 
say  that  Mr.  Giffen  estimated  the  cost  to  France  of 
the  war  of  1870,  including  the  indemnity  and  Alsace 
and  Lorraine,  at  less  than  $3,500,000,000. 

When  America's  creditors  rejected  her  silver,  in 
1873,  she  had  to  settle  in  such  commodities  as  they 
would  take,  and  the  chief  of  these  were  farm  prod- 
ucts. A  general  fall  of  prices  set  in,  as  marked  in 
freight  rates  as  in  commodities.  This  shrinkage 
affected  values  abroad,  and  the  worse  the  position 
of  the  creditor  class  became,  the  more  peremptory 
grew  their  demands  for  payment. 


V.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 73 

The  structure  of  society  had  not  been  simplified  in 
Great  Britain,  during  the  French  Revolution,  as  it 
had  on  the  continent.  Consequently,  in  1870,  much 
of  the  complexity  of  the  Middle  Ages  survived,  espe- 
cially in  regard  to  the  tenure  of  land.  In  England 
land  was  expected  to  earn  two  profits,  one  for  the 
cultivator,  the  other  for  the  landlord ;  and  though 
this  had  been  possible  when  freights  were  high,  it 
became  impossible  as  they  fell,  accompanied  as  the 
fall  in  freights  was  by  a  decrease  in  the  value  of  the 
crops  themselves. 

In  1873  it  cost,  on  the  average,  about  $0.21  to  con- 
vey a  bushel  of  wheat  from  New  York  to  Liverpool, 
in  1880  only  about  $0,115;  or,  estimating  the  value 
of  the  bushel  of  wheat  in  London  between  1870  and 
1874  at  $1.60,  and  allowing  for  the  reduction  in  rail- 
way as  well  as  in  ocean  rates,  the  farmer  lost  some- 
thing at  least  equivalent  to  a  protective  tariff  of  10 
per  cent.  This  difference  seems  toward  1880  to 
have  about  offset  the  rent.  At  a  later  date  matters 
grew  worse  and  farms  went  out  of  cultivation. 

Then  a  very  curious  phenomenon  occurred.  In 
earlier  days  the  manufactures  of  Great  Britain  had 
been  sold  in  America;  the  proceeds  had  been  re- 
mitted to  Lancashire  or  Yorkshire,  had  for  the  most 
part  been  spent  in  wages,  and  by  the  wage-earner 
had  been  expended  for  food ;  the  sale  of  food  had 
paid  the  gentry's  rent,  and  the  gentry's  accumulations 
had  either  returned  to  Lancashire  as  loans,  or  had 
been  invested  in  American  stocks.  Such  was  the  con- 
dition when  Bagehot  wrote  Lombard  Street.  What 
happened  in  the  next  two  decades  a  few  figures  will 
explain  better  than  much  argument.     For  example, 


1/4  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

the  acreage  under  wheat  in  England,  Scotland,  and 
Wales  fell  from  3,490,000  acres  in  1873  to  1,897,000 
in  1893,  while  imports  of  wheat  rose  from  43,863,000 
hundredweight  in  1873  to  65,461,000  in  1893.  Mean- 
while, the  population  of  the  United  Kingdom  had 
only  grown  from  32,000,000  to  38,000,000.  In  other 
words,  the  imports  of  wheat  had  increased  50  per 
cent,  the  population  20  per  cent ;  and  this  leaves  out 
purchases  of  flour,  which  had  swelled  from  6,000,000 
to  20,000,000  hundredweight. 

The  course  of  trade  is  obvious  enough.  The  profits 
made  on  sales  of  merchandise  abroad,  and  paid  out 
in  wages,  no  longer  remained  with  English  farmers 
as  the  price  of  food,  thus  forming  a  basis  for  English 
credit.  After  1879,  as  soon  as  earned,  these  profits 
flowed  back  again  whence  they  came,  with  the  effect 
of  gradually  converting  the  landholding  class  from 
lenders  into  borrowers. 

The  landed  class  became  borrowers  largely  because 
of  the  extravagant  system  of  family  settlements.  The 
eldest  son  took  the  property,  but  he  took  it  encum- 
bered with  settlements  for  the  widow,  the  brothers 
and  sisters.  These  settlements  constituted  a  fixed 
charge  on  rent ;  and  when  rents  disappeared,  the  owner 
had  to  make  good  the  settlements,  or  pay  the  interest 
on  his  mortgages,  which  amounted  to  the  same  thing, 
out  of  sales  of  personal  property.  Hence,  liquidation 
on  a  large  scale  became  imperative ;  and  frequently 
it  proved  impracticable  to  save  the  land.  Neverthe- 
less, though  undersold  in  agriculture.  Great  Britain, 
with  economy  and  an  improved  administration,  might 
have  prospered,  if  she  could  have  maintained  her 
advantage  in  transportation ;  but  in  this  emergency 
British  society  proved  inflexible. 


V.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 75 

Meanwhile  America  tottered  on  the  brink  of  ruin. 
Deprived  at  once  of  her  silver,  which  then  represented 
a  cash  asset  of  upward  of  ^35,000,000  annually,  and 
of  much  of  the  value  of  her  other  merchandise,  the 
United  States  had  to  meet  the  deficiency  with  gold. 
In  the  single  year  1893,  the  Union  exported,  on 
balance,  $87,000,000,  a  sum  probably  larger  than 
any  community  has  been  forced  to  part  with  under 
similar  conditions.  Such  a  pressure  could  not  con- 
tinue. The  crisis  had  to  end  in  either  insolvency  or 
reUef,  and  relief  came  through  an  exertion  of  energy 
and  adaptability,  perhaps  without  a  parallel.  The 
United  States  escaped  disaster  because  of  intellectual 
flexibility. 

In  three  years  America  reorganized  her  whole 
social  system  by  a  process  of  consolidation,  the  result 
of  which  has  been  the  so-called  trust.  But  the  trust, 
in  reality,  is  the  highest  type  of  administrative  effi- 
ciency, and  therefore  of  economy,  which  has,  as  yet, 
been  attained.  By  means  of  this  consolidation  the 
American  people  were  enabled  to  utilize  their  mines 
to  the  full ;  the  centres  of  mineral  production  and  of 
exchanges  were  forced  westward,  and  the  well-known 
symptoms  supervened.  The  peculiarity  of  the  pres- 
ent movement  is  its  rapidity  and  intensity,  and  this 
appears  to  be  due  to  the  amount  of  energy  developed 
in  the  United  States,  in  proportion  to  the  energy 
developed  elsewhere.  The  shock  of  the  impact  of 
the  new  power  seems  overwhelming. 

From  the  age  of  Augustus  downward  Europe's 
vulnerable  point  has  been  her  minerals ;  but  all 
experience  has  demonstrated  that  the  centre  of 
mineral  production  is  likely,  also,  to  be  the  seat  of 


176  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap.  v. 

empire.  At  all  events,  no  region  can  long  retain 
an  ascendency  without  an  adequate  supply  of  the 
useful  metals  and  coal.  Also,  in  international  com- 
petition, to  be  undersold  is  equivalent  to  being  with- 
out mines,  for  unprofitable  mines  close,  or  else  are 
protected  by  a  tariff  which  raises  the  cost  of  life 
above  the  international  standard.  The  condition  of 
the  United  Kingdom  may,  perhaps  be  taken  as  a 
gauge  of  the  condition  of  the  chief  industrial  nations 
of  the  continent. 

As  early  as  1882,  the  iron  mines  of  the  United 
Kingdom  yielded  their  maximum,  in  round  numbers, 
18,000,000  tons  of  ore;  in  1900,  only  14,000,000. 
In  1868,  9817  tons  of  copper  were  produced;  in 
1899,  637  tons.  Two  years  later  the  turn  came  in 
lead,  the  output  in  1870  having  reached  73,420  tons, 
as  against  23,552  in  1899;  while  tin,  which  stood  at 
10,900  tons  in  1871,  had  dwindled  to  4013  in  the 
same  year.  The  quantity  of  coal  raised,  indeed, 
increases,  but  prices  have  shown  a  tendency  to 
advance  as  the  mines  sink  deeper,  so  that  any  con- 
siderable industrial  expansion  is  likely  to  occasion 
a  rise  in  the  cost  of  fuel.  The  end  seems  only  a 
question  of  time.  England,  France,  Germany, 
Belgium,  and  Austria,  the  core  of  Europe,  are, 
apparently,  doomed  not  only  to  buy  their  raw  mate- 
rial abroad,  but  to  pay  the  cost  of  transport. 


CHAPTER  VI 

In  March,  1897,  America  completed  her  reor- 
ganization, for  in  that  month  the  consoHdation  at 
Pittsburg  undersold  the  world  in  steel,  and  forthwith 
the  signs  of  distress  multiplied.  The  Spanish  Em- 
pire disintegrated,  and  Great  Britain  betrayed  a 
lassitude  which  has  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
entire  world.  One  symptom  has  been  the  financial 
weakness  discovered  during  the  petty  Boer  War. 
To  maintain  their  credit  and  their  bank  balance,  the 
Statist  computed  that  London  financiers  regularly 
employed,  during  the  summer  of  1901,  80,000,000 
pounds  sterling  of  French  capital,  and  Lombard 
Street  freely  admitted  that  French  bankers  held  the 
money  market  in  their  grasp.  A  notable  feature  of 
modern  English  civilization  is  the  apparently  meagre 
accumulation  of  popular  savings.  The  loans  needed 
for  the  Boer  War  were  not  excessive,  yet  they  were 
negotiated  with  the  utmost  timidity,  the  government 
relying  upon  the  aid  of  foreign  bankers.  In  France, 
in  the  midst  of  defeat  and  revolution,  the  peasants 
sent  carloads  of  five-franc  pieces  to  Paris  to  pay  the 
indemnity  in  1870.  In  the  United  States  a  loan  of 
$1,000,000,000  would,  probably,  be  taken  readily  by 
popular  subscription,  and  would  hardly  cause  a  very 
material  fluctuation  in  the  price  of  bonds  if  the  opera- 
tions were  not  hurried.  Between  1900  and  1902  the 
mere  rumor  of  a  new  issue  of  consols,  however  small 

N  177 


178  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

the  amount,  regularly  created  weakness.     The  actual 
depreciation  approximated  twenty  per  cent. 

Meanwhile,  the  current  of  exchanges  has  run  more 
and  more  heavily  against  the  Kingdom,  who,  having 
for  some  years  settled  her  balances  in  American 
securities,  now  apparently  has  recourse  to  the  sale 
of  such  assets  as  her  shipping  to  discharge  upon  the 
United  States  the  burden  of  her  floating  debt.  Also, 
with  the  loss  of  her  vessels  a  considerable  income 
will  probably  vanish,  although  the  earnings  of  her 
merchant  marine  have,  perhaps,  not  been  so  great 
as  supposed,  at  least  from  foreign  nations.  British 
steamers  habitually  obtain  outward  cargoes  of  coal, 
and  homeward  cargoes  of  provisions  or  ore.  The 
Eco7ioviist  has  calculated  that  thirty  per  cent  of  the 
coal  nominally  exported  goes  to  coaling  stations  and 
is  sold  to  EngHsh  seamen.  Its  price,  therefore, 
becomes  an  item  of  freight  to  be  defrayed  by  the 
purchaser  of  the  goods  transported,  and  if  these 
happen  to  be  ore  or  provisions,  the  EngHsh  must 
meet  it,  and  reckon  it  as  dead  loss.  The  British 
iron  mines  are  failing,  the  copper  mines  have  failed, 
therefore  ores  have  to  be  imported ;  the  British 
railways,  through  conservatism,  have  been  unable  to 
reduce  rates,  so  that  the  farmer  of  Devonshire  cannot 
compete  with  the  farmer  of  Ontario  or  Nebraska ; 
therefore  the  British  have  to  rely  on  Americans, 
Australians,  Russians,  and  Germans  for  food,  and 
have  to  pay  for  the  transportation  of  what  they  buy. 
Meanwhile  the  English  spend  on  the  basis  of  their 
old  profits  now  that  their  profits  are  gone,  and  hence 
comes  that  enormous  and  ever  growing  adverse 
trade  balance,  which  seems  already  to  have  devoured 


VI.  THE  NEW    EMPIRE  1 79 

the  savings  which  once  represented  gigantic  invest- 
ments, not  only  in  the  United  States,  but  on  the 
continent  of  Europe.  In  the  six  months  ending 
July  I,  1902,  the  excess  of  net  imports  over  net 
exports  reached  ;!^94, 545,000,  as  against  ;!^89,753,ooo 
in  the  first  half  of  last  year,  and  ^77,859,000  in  the 
first  half  of  1900.  In  1890  the  adverse  balance  for 
six  months  was  ;!^46,400,ooo,  and  at  that  time  the 
returns  did  not  include  the  sale  of  new  ships,  which 
in  1900  were  valued  at  ;£'3, 940,000,  and  which  would, 
to  a  certain  extent,  diminish  the  deficit.  Under  such 
conditions  American  capital  would  naturally  flow 
toward  England,  for  the  Statist  has  calculated  that, 
even  on  the  basis  of  the  year  ending  March  31,  1901, 
and  after  every  imaginable  set-off  had  been  allowed, 
the  nation  was  going  behind  at  the  rate  of  ;!^40,ooo,ooo 
per  annum,  or  nearly  $200,000,000.^ 

Germany  has  also  been  perturbed.  Years  ago 
Germany  was  organized  to  meet  English  competition, 
and  while  England  regulated  the  pace,  Germany  paid 
a  dividend  on  her  investments.  When  American 
trusts  entered  the  field  this  profit  disappeared,  and 
Germans  now  comprehend  that,  however  prices  may 
temporarily  favor  them  by  reason  of  activity  in  the 
United  States,  to  be  permanently  secure  they  must 
adjust  their  whole  system  of  agriculture,  industry, 
and  transportation  to  a  new  standard.  Conceding 
this  to  be  done,  success  still  remains  problematical, 
for  Germany  can  never  match  her  bulk  against  the 
bulk  of  the  United  States,  or  her  mines  against 
American  mines.  She  must  always  buy  her  raw 
material.     Also,  Germany  must  face  the  destruction 

^  The  Statist,  April  1 3,  1 901,  p.  676. 


l8o  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

of  her  beet  sugar  industry  through  the  loss  of  the 
American  market  by  the  inclusion  of  Cuba  in  the 
American  system. 

Russia  has,  however,  suffered  most,  for  Russia  is 
the  heart  of  the  weaker  of  the  two  competing  eco- 
nomic systems,  and  as  such  has  probably  contracted 
the  greatest  debt,  in  proportion  to  its  capital,  of  any 
solvent  community.  From  the  nature  of  the  case, 
Russia's  trials  are  not  new.  They  began  with  the 
rise  of  the  Muscovite  administration,  and  have  con- 
tinued ever  since.  In  1588,  just  after  the  death  of 
Ivan  the  Terrible,  Giles  Fletcher  visited  Russia,  and 
thus  described  what  he  saw :  "  Besides  the  taxes, 
customes,  seazures,  and  other  publique  exactions  done 
upon  them  by  the  emperour,  they  are  so  racked  and 
pulled  by  the  nobles,  officers,  and  messengers  sent 
abroad  by  the  emperour  in  his  publique  affairs,  spe- 
cially in  the  yammes  (as  they  call  them)  and  thor- 
ough faire  townes,  that  you  shall  have  many  villages 
and  townes  of  halfe  a  mile  and  a  mile  long,  stande  all 
unhabited ;  the  people  being  fled  all  into  other  places, 
by  reason  of  the  extreame  usage  and  exactions  done 
upon  them.  So  that  in  the  way  towards  Mosko, 
betwixt  Vologda  and  Yaruslaveley  (which  is  two 
nineties  after  their  reckoning,  little  more  than  an 
hundredth  miles  English)  there  are  in  sigt  fiftie 
darieunes  or  villages  at  the  least,  some  halfe  a  mile, 
some  a  mile  long,  that  stand  vacant  and  desolate 
without  any  inhabitant."  ^ 

In  Peter's  reign  affairs  had  not  improved.  Between 
1709  and  1725  the  revenue  of  Russia  rose  from  about 

^  Of  the  Russe  Commonwealth,  by  Dr.  Giles  Fletcher,  Hakluyt  Soc. 
Publications,  61. 


VI.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  l8l 

3,000,000  to  a  little  over  10,000,000  roubles,  and,  as 
Schuyler  has  pointed  out,  "  this  result  could  not  have 
been  reached  without  immense  and  oppressive  taxa- 
tion." "  Strahlenberg  tells  us  that  to  escape  the 
oppression  of  the  tax  officials,  who  collected  the 
taxes  in  the  times  of  the  year  worst  for  agriculture, 
and  seized  the  draft  horses  of  the  peasants,  at  least 
a  hundred  thousand  men  had  fled  to  Poland, 
Lithuania,  Turkey,  and  the  Tartars.  .  .  .  Whole 
villages  ran  away  to  the  frontiers  or  hid  in  the 
woods."  ^ 

Either  of  these  paragraphs  might  be  written  of 
contemporary  Russia,  for  in  Russia  poverty  has  long 
reached  its  limit,  famine  is  chronic,  and  it  is  chronic 
because  it  is  an  effect  of  continuing  causes.  Russia's 
physical  conformation  is  such  that  the  traffic  upon  her 
highways  has  never  paid  for  their  maintenance  and 
protection.  For  example,  the  revenue  of  Eastern 
Siberia  has  of  late  years  yielded  about  6,000,000 
roubles,  while  the  government  spent  20,000,000  annu- 
ally in  the  territory,  and  such  deficits  have  been  con- 
tinuous for  three  centuries.  The  arrears  have  been 
made  good  from  the  food  of  the  people,  and  the 
result  has  been  hunger. 

Nor  is  this  expenditure  economically  made,  for 
the  conditions  under  which  Russia  exists  preclude 
economy.  By  reason  of  her  mass,  her  climate,  and 
the  mountains  and  deserts  of  central  Asia,  the  circula- 
tion throughout  the  Russian  organism  is  relatively 
defective.  But  a  defective  social  circulation  is  tan- 
tamount to  intellectual  stagnation,  and  intellectual 
stagnation  is  synonymous  with  primitive  methods  or 

1  Peter  the  Great,  Schuyler,  II.,  369. 


1 82  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

waste.  For  example,  the  communal  occupancy  of 
land  lingers  in  Russia,  and  yet  communal  tenure 
represents  a  stage  of  civilization  at  least  three  hun- 
dred years  younger  than  the  American.  Also  it  is 
wasteful,  because  under  it  the  farmer  can  have  no 
incentive  to  improve  his  property,  since  another  must 
enjoy  the  fruit  of  his  labor.  Consequently  Russian 
methods  of  farming  alter  little,  machinery  is  not 
extensively  used,  and  the  English  papers  intimate 
that  Russian  competition  with  American  grain  tends 
to  diminish.  Industry  exhibits  like  phenomena. 
Being  intellectually  sluggish,  the  Russians  are  unin- 
ventive  and  unadaptable,  and,  since  the  reign  of  Ivan 
the  Terrible,  they  have  sought  to  make  good  their 
deficiency  by  the  importation  of  foreigners  to  manage 
their  factories.  Nothing  could  be  more  extravagant. 
One  illustration  will  suffice  ;  they  have  of  late  essayed 
to  build  up  iron  and  steel  interests  in  the  south.  To 
tempt  foreigners  to  immigrate  they  have  imposed  a 
high  tariff,  and  as  there  is  no  private  demand  for  steel, 
the  government  has  bought  the  finished  product  at 
exorbitant  prices.  The  money  for  these  purchases 
has  been  borrowed.  As  the  works  are  owned  by 
foreigners,  the  earnings  are  remitted  abroad,  and  then 
fresh  loans  have  to  be  negotiated,  or  the  furnaces 
would  close.  Sooner  or  later  a  pinch  was  inevitable, 
and  for  several  years  Russia  has  been  struggling 
with  a  crisis,  which  is  only  alleviated  when  the  Min- 
ister of  Finance  can  obtain  an  advance  from  France, 
which  enables  him  to  invest  in  steel.  Thus  there 
is  acute  misery,  and  misery  spreads  nihilism  and 
agrarian  discontent.  The  emigration  to  Siberia  is 
largely  caused  by  an  effort  to  escape  from  torment 


VI.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  1 83 

at  home.  For  the  same  cause  Fletcher  found  the 
villages  deserted  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the 
peasants  fled  to  Poland  under  Peter  the  Great.  Be- 
tween 1879  and  1885  emigration  averaged  about 
10,000  annually.  In  1892  a  bad  famine  began,  aggra- 
vated by  the  rise  in  taxes  occasioned  by  the  cost  of 
internal  improvements.  In  1892  itself  90,000  farm- 
ers found  their  position  untenable,  and  in  1894  the 
number  is  said  to  have  risen  to  600,000,  though  so 
enormous  a  total  suggests  an  error.  Famine  in 
Russia  does  not  imply  an  absence  of  food ;  it  indi- 
cates a  fall  in  the  well-being  of  the  people.  When 
crops  fail,  and  poverty  reaches  a  certain  point,  men 
starve  because  they  cannot  buy,  no  matter  how 
cheap  food  may  be.  During  these  famine  years 
travellers  have  found  villages  whose  whole  popula- 
tion was  rotting  from  hunger  typhus,  in  which  the 
national  rye  bread  sold  for  a  cent  and  a  half  a 
pound.^ 

Peter  the  Great,  having  convicted  one  Alexis 
Nesteroff,  an  Ober-Fiscal,  of  peculation,  condemned 
him  to  be  broken  alive  on  the  wheel.  Afterward, 
in  his  indignation,  he  dictated  a  decree  punishing 
with  death  all  officials  who  received  gifts.  General 
Yaguzhinsky,  who  acted  as  secretary,  and  who 
chanced  to  be  honest,  demurred.  Peter  insisted ; 
then  said  Yaguzhinsky,  "  Does  your  Majesty  wish  to 
remain  alone  in  the  empire .-"  we  all  steal,  some  more, 
some  less  but  more  cleverly."  What  Yaguzhinsky 
meant  to  point  out  was  that  the  custom  of  paying  the 
civil  service  by  fees  prevailed,  and  that  to  reform  it 
Peter  would  have  to  change  his  people.     And  yet 

'^Through  Famine-stricken  Rtissia,  Steveni,  120. 


1 84  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

the  fee  system  entails  incalculable  waste,  and  is 
incompatible  with  efficiency.  The  history  of  the 
Siberian  Railway  displays  a  gangrene  which  eats  into 
the  marrow  of  the  nation. 

The  length  of  the  entire  Siberian  Hne,  including 
branches,  fell  short  of  6000  miles.  The  road  runs 
for  the  most  part  through  an  easy  country,  except 
perhaps  for  the  669  miles  from  Lake  Baikal  to  Stre- 
tensk;  the  land  cost  nothing;  work  can  be  carried 
on  from  several  points  at  once.  In  1891  a  French 
company  offered  to  complete  the  task  within  six 
years,  at  an  average  cost  of  about  ^30,000  the  mile.^ 
No  one  knows  precisely  what  the  outlay  on  the  road 
has  been,  but  figures  have  been  published  relating  to 
some  sections.  The  western  division  from  Tchela- 
binsk  to  the  Obi  was  estimated  by  the  French  en- 
gineers at  20,000  roubles  the  verst;  it  had  already 
cost,  in  1897,  53,000  roubles,  and  it  will  have  to  be 
substantially  reconstructed  before  it  will  bear  heavy 
traffic.^  In  reaUty,  the  main  division  from  Chelia- 
binsk  to  Stretensk  on  the  Amur,  where  steam  navi- 
gation to  the  Pacific  begins,  is  less  than  3000  miles, 
and  M.  de  Witte  solemnly  assured  the  world  that 
this  vital  section  should  be  in  thorough  order  by 
1898,  or  1899  at  the  latest.  In  August,  1898,  the  first 
train  reached  Irkutsk,  and  the  same  year  the  portion 
from  Vladivostok  to  the  Amur  was  opened.  Yet 
so  defective  was  the  road-bed  and  material  in  the 
spring  of  1900,  that,  when  the  Chinese  outbreak  oc- 
curred, not  only  did  the  main  artery  prove  unfit  for 
ordinary  travel,  but  incapable  of  transporting  enough 

1  40,000  roubles  the  verst. 

2  Oil  la  Dictature  de  M.  IVitie  conduit  la  Russie,  E.  de  Cyon,  63. 


VI.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  185 

troops  to  guard  the  lines  in  Manchuria.  As  for  the 
garrisons  of  Port  Arthur  and  similar  positions,  they 
appear  rather  to  have  been  sent  by  Suez  than  by 
Vladivostok,  Incompetence  could  go  no  farther. 
Such  is  the  fruit  of  nine  years  of  toil,  at  an  outlay 
estimated  at  more  than  double  the  price  asked  by 
Frenchmen,  and  with  a  product  so  inferior  that  ex- 
perts are  agreed  the  road  falls  very  far  below  even 
the  European  standard,  a  standard  incapable  of  com- 
parison with  the  American. 

In  the  United  States,  between  1880  and  1890,  the 
average  construction  exceeded  6000  miles  of  road 
annually,  all  built  by  private  enterprise;  and  in  1887 
more  than  12,000  miles  of  track  were  laid.  Had  the 
United  States  been  under  a  stimulus  of  apprehension 
such  as  the  Russians  felt  in  regard  to  their  eastern 
frontier  because  of  the  activity  of  Japan,  the  building 
of  a  line  equal  to  that  to  the  Amur  could  scarcely 
have  occupied  three  years  at  the  most. 

Measuring  thus  Russian  with  American  energy, 
the  former  could  hardly  hold  a  higher  ratio  than  as 
one  to  four  or  five  in  relation  to  the  latter.  Before 
the  Siberian  Railway  had  been  tested  by  actual  ex- 
perience, many  maintained  that  it  would  ultimately 
"  constitute  a  new  commercial  route  for  rapid  travel 
and  for  exchange  of  the  products  of  East  and  West,"  ^ 
and  this  theory  was  industriously  propagated  by  the 
French  press.^  Now,  less  confidence  is  expressed. 
The  Siberian  road  will  probably  be  used  for  pas- 
sengers, but  as  a  channel  for  freight  it  stands  already 
condemned.      All    the    conditions   are   unfavorable. 

1  Russia  and  the  Pacific,  Vladimir,  306. 

2  See,  for  example,  V Illustration,  January  23,  1897,  P"  55- 


1 86  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

Siberia  stretches  over  a  narrow  belt  of  several  thou- 
sand miles  of  arable  land,  bounded  by  ice  on  the 
north,  and  mountains  and  deserts  on  the  south. 
Thus  masses  of  material  can  hardly  be  collected  by 
feeders,  as  in  America,  and  it  is  by  handling  masses 
that  rates  are  reduced.  Should  the  rates  be  fixed 
artificially  low  by  the  government,  the  old  sore  is 
opened.     The  peasantry  must  pay  the  deficit. 

Under  such  limitations  even  an  American  manage- 
ment could  not  cope  with  the  Suez  Canal ;  but, 
in  the  future,  the  Russian  civil  service  will  be  in 
competition  with  the  Panama  route.  The  probabil- 
ity is,  therefore,  that  the  trade  of  northeastern  Asia 
will  eventually  flow  in  larger  volume  toward  the 
West,  and  that  all  avenues  to  the  East  will  decline 
in  relative  importance.  The  Russian  Empire  in 
Asia  is  an  economic  system  based  on  overland 
thoroughfares  leading  to  Europe,  and  the  experience 
of  mankind  hitherto  has  been  that,  when  traffic  re- 
verses its  direction,  empires  dissolve.  Japan  repre- 
sents the  Western  influence,  therefore  the  kernel  of 
the  catastrophe  impending  in  the  Orient  is  the  strug- 
gle for  survival  between  Russia  and  Japan. 

Modern  Japan,  like  modern  America,  is  the  effect 
of  the  migration  westward  of  the  seat  of  energy  and 
the  centre  of  mineral  production.  That  movement 
began  with  the  Mexican  War,  which  preceded  the 
annexation  of  California  and  the  discovery  of  gold. 
According  to  the  official  statement  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  these  two  events  led  to  the 
despatch  of  Commodore  Perry  to  Asia  to  establish  re- 
lations with  the  Mikado.  "  The  treaty  which  closed 
the  war  of  the  United  States  with  Mexico  transferred 


VI.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 8/ 

to  the  former  the  territory  of  Cahfornia.  ...  If  the 
shortest  route  between  eastern  Asia  and  western 
Europe  be  (in  this  age  of  steam)  across  our  conti- 
nent, then  was  it  obvious  enough  that  our  continent 
must,  in  some  degree  at  least,  become  a  highway  for 
the  w^orld.  And  when,  soon  after  our  acquisition  of 
California,  it  was  discovered  that  the  harvest  there 
was  gold,  nothing  was  more  natural  than  that  such 
discovery  should  give  additional  interest  to  the  obvi- 
ous reflections  suggested  by  our  geographical  posi- 
tion. Direct  trade  from  our  western  coast  with  Asia 
became,  therefore,  a  familiar  thought ;  the  agency 
of  steam  was,  of  course,  involved,  and  fuel  for  its 
production  was  indispensable.  Hence  arose  inquiries 
for  that  great  mineral  agent  of  civilization,  coal. 
Where  was  it  to  be  obtained  on  the  long  route  from 
California  to  Asia  ?  Another  inquiry  presented  it- 
self ;  with  what  far  distant  Eastern  nations  should 
we  trade  ?  China  was  in  some  measure  opened  to 
us ;  but  there  was,  beside,  a  terra  incognita  in  Japan 
which,  while  it  stimulated  curiosity,  held  out  also 
temptations  which  invited  commercial  enterprise."  ^ 
Perry  sailed  from  Norfolk  on  November  24,  1852, 
and  his  squadron  entered  Yeddo  Bay  on  July  8,  1853. 
Terror  reigned  on  shore.  The  people  of  Yeddo  pre- 
pared for  defence.  In  1623  the  last  Englishman 
withdrew  from  Hirado,  and  from  that  time  until 
Perry's  advent  the  Dutch  alone  had  succeeded  in 
preserving  a  foothold  in  Japan.  Even  the  Dutch 
were  Umited  to  sending  and  receiving  a  single  ship 
annually,  and  the  notion  that  Americans  would  suc- 

1  Narrative  of  the   Expedition  of  an  American  Squadron  to  the 
China  Seas  and  Japan,  75. 


1 88  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

ceed  where  others  had  failed  roused  general  derision. 
Nevertheless,  Perry  opened  communications  with  the 
Shogun. 

During  the  Middle  Ages  the  military  class  had 
risen  to  supreme  power  in  Japan,  and  their  represent- 
ative, the  Shogun,  or  commander-in-chief,  had  as- 
sumed the  executive  functions.  Therefore,  when 
Perry  insisted  on  obtaining  an  answer  to  President 
Fillmore's  letter  to  the  emperor,  the  responsibility 
devolved  upon  the  Shogun,  Perry  did  not  press  the 
government  unduly,  but  sailed  for  China,  giving 
notice  that  he  would  return  in  the  spring  to  negotiate 
a  treaty.  As  soon  as  be  had  gone,  the  Shogun  took 
the  advice  of  the  Daimios.  The  Daimios  almost 
unanimously  opposed  foreign  influence,  but  on  the 
other  hand,  being  soldiers,  they  understood  that  the 
country  could  not  resist  an  attack.  Accordingly 
the  Shogun  and  his  party  determined  to  compromise. 
They  would  yield  enough  to  keep  the  peace,  and  in 
the  time  thus  gained  they  would  arm.  Punctual  to 
his  promise.  Perry  reappeared  at  Yeddo  on  February 
13,  1854,  and  on  March  31  signed  a  convention 
which,  though  not  a  complete  surrender  by  Japan, 
opened  the  door  to  all  that  followed. 

Forthwith  a  powerful  fermentation  set  in,  schools 
of  languages  were  frequented,  foundries  organized, 
and  an  immense  activity  prevailed  at  the  treaty  ports. 
Yokohama  in  1890  numbered  122,000  inhabitants, 
in  1884  70,000,  in  1856  it  was  a  mere  hamlet.  There 
was  no  stemming  the  impulsion.  Nevertheless,  the 
entrance  of  the  empire  into  the  vortex  of  Western 
competition  caused  an  economic  disturbance,  which 
brought  on  a  revolution.     In  1868  the  Shogun  fell, 


VI.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  1 89 

and  three  years  later  the  Daimios  surrendered  their 
fiefs.  Perhaps  no  community  ever  assimilated  a  new 
civilization  so  rapidly  as  did  the  Japanese  during  the 
decades  which  followed,  and  from  this  intellectual 
flexibility  came  success.  Yet,  as  usually  happens 
upon  a  profound  disturbance  of  the  social  equilib- 
rium, the  immediate  effect  was  war. 

Nothing  would  here  be  gained  by  attempting  to 
detail  the  long  and  complex  series  of  events  which 
nominally  led  to  the  invasion  of  Korea  in  1894,  for 
the  fundamental  cause  was  simple.  It  was,  in  fine, 
the  attack  of  the  economic  system,  in  process  of 
formation,  upon  the  systems  of  the  past. 

Competing  nations  seek,  along  the  paths  of  least 
resistance,  the  means  which  give  them  an  advantage 
in  the  struggle  for  survival,  and  among  these  means 
the  minerals,  perhaps,  rank  first.  Tientsin,  on  the 
Peiho,  is  the  port  of  Peking ;  and  somewhat  more 
than  three  hundred  miles  southwest  of  Tientsin,  in 
the  valley  of  the  Hwangho,  lies  Tsechau,  in  the 
province  of  Shansi,  which  Richthofen  considered  as 
the  centre  of  the  richest  beds  of  coal  and  iron  now 
known  to  exist,  and  undeveloped,  in  the  world.  The 
position  of  these  beds  is  good.  Although  the 
Hwangho  is  hardly  nangable,  and  although  it  is 
uncertain  whether  it  could  be  made  available  at  rea- 
sonable cost,  Tsechau  is  only  about  two  hundred 
miles  distant  from  the  junction  of  the  Grand  Canal 
with  the  river,  and  Tientsin  has  grown  up  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Grand  Canal  and  the  Peiho. 
Clearly  Shansi  and  Honan  are  not  only  accessible, 
but  cheap  transportation  could  be  established  between 
Tsechau  and  the  coast. 


190  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

In  addition,  an  efficient  administration  could 
probably  introduce  an  industrial  system  modelled 
upon  the  American,  and  could  control  Chinese  labor. 
Therefore,  granting  Richthofen's  estimate  of  the 
wealth  of  Shansi  and  Honan  to  be  correct,  there  is 
reason  to  infer  that  the  conqueror  of  these  provinces 
could,  were  he  capable,  presently  undersell  all  com- 
petitors in  steel.  Bearing  these  facts  in  mind,  the 
recent  disturbances  in  the  East  assume  the  appear- 
ance of  an  orderly  sequence  of  cause  and  effect. 

The  greatest  prize  of  modern  times  is  northern 
China,  and  the  Japanese  advanced  by  Korea  because 
Korea  offered  the  path  of  least  resistance  to  their 
goal.  In  1894  the  Japanese  did  not  command  the 
sea,  on  the  contrary,  the  Chinese  fleet  was  numeri- 
cally their  equal ;  therefore  a  short  passage  for  trans- 
ports to  the  continent  was  essential  to  success,  and 
the  coast  of  Korea  is  only  a  few  hours*  sail  from  the 
island  of  Hondo.  Accordingly,  the  Japanese  marched 
through  Korea,  and  seized  Port  Arthur,  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  Liaotung  peninsula,  which  commands 
on  the  north  the  entrance  to  the  Gulf  of  Petchili. 
Port  Arthur  having  been  occupied,  the  next  move  was 
upon  Wei-hai-wei,  in  Shantung,  opposite  Port  Arthur, 
on  the  south  side  of  the  strait,  between  Korea  Bay 
and  the  Gulf  of  Petchili.  That  position  secured,  the 
Japanese  could  advance  upon  the  interior  at  their 
convenience,  for  they  had  annihilated  the  Chinese 
fleet  and  army.  The  Hwangho  and  the  Peiho  empty 
into  the  Gulf,  and  a  short  and  easy  campaign  would, 
probably,  have  made  them  masters  of  Peking,  Tse- 
chau,  and  the  whole  mineral  region  of  Shansi. 

The  danger  to  Japan  lay  not  in  the  enemy,  but  in 


VL  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  I9I 

foreign  intervention,  and  intervention  came  precisely 
because  of  the  energy  she  had  developed.  The  over- 
land system  perceived  that  its  integrity  was  menaced, 
for,  should  northern  China  be  turned  into  an  active 
industrial  region  whose  commerce  would  flow  west- 
ward, the  Russian  Empire  in  Asia  could  hardly  en- 
dure. At  best,  Siberia  is  long  and  attenuated,  move- 
ment therein  is  imperfect  and  its  cost  heavy;  but 
Siberia  would  readily  split  in  twain  were  the  co- 
hesive force  of  a  single  line  of  ill-built  railway,  four 
thousand  miles  long  to  Moscow,  pitted  against  the 
attraction  of  the  markets  of  America  and  Japan,  act- 
ing through  a  manufacturing  community  upon  the 
border. 

Aware  of  the  danger,  the  Japanese  did  not  press 
their  victory,  but  granted  China  easy  terms,  the  chief 
of  which  were  an  indemnity  and  the  cession  of  Port 
Arthur.  Even  this  was  too  much.  Russia,  with  her 
appendage  France,  and  Germany,  or  the  overland 
system,  forced  Japan  to  retire  from  the  mainland. 
Thus  the  war  of  1894  left  behind  it  an  unstable  equi- 
librium, with  society  moving  with  portentous  velocity. 
The  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  on  May  8,  1895,  and 
within  two  years  a  heavier  shock  than  the  war  came 
from  the  West.  In  March,  1897,  Pittsburg  achieved 
supremacy  in  steel,  and  in  an  instant  Europe  felt  her- 
self poised  above  an  abyss.  As  though  moved  by  a 
common  impulse,  Russia,  Germany,  and  England 
precipitated  themselves  upon  the  shore  of  the  Yellow 
Sea,  grasping  at  the  positions  which  had  been  con- 
quered by  Japan,  and  for  the  same  reason.  These 
positions  commanded  Shansi.  In  November,  1897, 
the  emperor  of  Germany  gorged  Kaiochau,  a  month 


192  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

later  the  Czar  grasped  Port  Arthur,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing April  the  British  laid  hands  on  Wei-hai-wei. 
Nevertheless,  the  movement  came  too  late,  the  hour 
for  partition  had  passed.  On  February  15,  1898,  a 
torpedo  sank  the  Maine  in  Havana  harbor,  and  on 
May  I  Dewey  destroyed  the  Spanish  fleet  in  Manila 
Bay.     The  United  States  had  expanded  into  Asia. 

Although  written  documents  are  lacking,  the  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  points  to  the  conclusion  that, 
from  near  the  time  of  the  triumph  of  Pittsburg,  an 
understanding  existed  between  Berlin  and  Petersburg 
touching  the  division  of  China.  Beginning  with  the 
German  onslaught  at  Kaiochau,  a  series  of  measures 
were  adopted  which  were  either  irrational  or  were 
intended  to  provoke  an  outbreak  which  would  justify 
reprisals.  In  fact,  the  Chinese  were  so  drastically 
used  that  not  only  did  rebellion  come,  but  it  came 
prematurely.  Even  when  so  much  is  conceded,  the 
problem  remains  unsolved  how  two  cabinets  could 
have  refused  to  contemplate  the  inevitable  effects  of 
their  work,  when  every  week  brought  abundant  warn- 
ing that  the  people  had  been  goaded  too  far.  Re- 
garding the  result  of  the  policy,  the  facts  speak  for 
themselves.  Certainly  the  Chinese  now,  as  in  the 
past,  hate  all  foreigners,  but  among  the  foreigners 
they  hate  the  Germans  most,  and  accordingly  the 
first  victim  in  Peking  was  the  Baron  von  Ketteler, 
the  German  minister.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  fair 
to  assume  that,  when  the  weakness  of  China  had 
been  demonstrated  by  the  campaigns  of  1894,  Ger- 
many and  Russia  determined  to  thrust  Japan  aside, 
and  divide  the  spoil  themselves.  A  pretext  alone 
was  lacking.     The  fall  in  American  steel  supplied 


VI.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  I93 

the  needed  stimulus,  and,  feeling  strong  enough  to 
deal  with  England,  they  saw  already  the  northern 
provinces  at  their  mercy.  They  failed  in  their  enter- 
prise because  they  comprehended  neither  the  effect 
of  their  own  harshness  nor  the  energy  of  the  United 
States. 

On  June  20,  when  the  legations  were  beset,  every 
cabinet  in  Europe  collapsed.  Not  one  had  a  policy 
or  an  army  ready.  The  Russians,  with  their  new 
railway  on  their  hands,  could  not  concentrate  men 
enough  in  Manchuria  to  disperse  wandering  bands 
of  marauders  and  protect  their  works.  So  far  as 
appears,  their  main  line  was  nearly  useless  for  prac- 
tical purposes.  The  Germans,  with  an  enormous 
army  and  with  a  murder  to  avenge,  could  not  land 
a  gun  at  Tientsin  before  Peking  had  been  occupied, 
and  when  their  force  arrived  it  came  ill-provided. 
The  English,  having  met  with  a  repulse  in  an  expedi- 
tion undertaken  by  one  of  their  admirals,  remained 
vacillating  and  helpless,  waiting  upon  the  Germans. 

On  the  other  hand,  at  Washington  and  Tokio 
statesmen  developed  clear  views,  and  found  the 
means  of  enforcing  them.  The  two  governments 
determined,  cost  what  it  might,  that  the  integrity 
of  China  should  be  preserved. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  took  the  lead 
and  led  to  the  end.  On  July  3,  1900,  the  State  De- 
partment issued  the  note  which  has  since  become 
famous  and  which  laid  down  the  principle  that  peace 
continued  unbroken  between  the  United  States  and 
China,  because,  China  being  in  insurrection,  the  Chi- 
nese government  was  unable  to  perform  its  obliga- 
tions.      Instead    of    declaring    war,    therefore,    the 


194  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

President  announced  his  intention  of  landing  an 
army  as  an  ally,  and  reducing  Peking  to  obedience. 
Although  insurrection  still  raged  in  the  Philippines, 
a  column  was  rapidly  concentrated  at  Tientsin  under 
a  soldier  certain  not  to  hesitate. 

His  orders  were  to  march  though  he  marched 
alone,  but  there  was  no  danger  of  absolute  isolation, 
for  the  Japanese  were  ready.  The  European  officers 
were  inchned  to  hesitate,  but  as  none  of  the  powers 
could  contemplate  being  left  behind,  they  had  no 
option  but  to  move  with  the  Americans.  Thus  the 
United  States  and  Japan  succeeded  in  controlling 
the  international  policy.  Peking  was  relieved,  the 
legations  saved,  partition  averted,  and  finally  evacu- 
ation effected.  The  New  Empire  had  stretched  its 
arm  over  northern  China. 

The  equilibrium  of  the  East  is  now  unstable.  Two 
economic  systems  confront  each  other,  competing  for 
the  same  prize.  Each  knows  that  defeat  may  be 
fatal ;  neither  has  achieved  a  decided  success. 

In  1894  Japan,  being  the  more  agile,  took  the  ini- 
tiative. She  fought  a  brilliant  war,  but,  in  the  hour 
of  victory,  was  menaced  by  an  alliance  of  the  whole 
opposing  system,  with  which  she  could  not  cope.  The 
United  States  had  not  then  become  the  seat  of  energy, 
and  had  not  entered  on  the  field. 

Six  years  later  Germany  and  Russia  made  their 
onset ;  but  they  were  far  too  slow.  Before  they  could 
make  ready  the  United  States  and  Japan  had  antici- 
pated them,  and,  with  the  United  States  and  Japan 
in  possession,  partition  was  impossible.  Then  all 
fell  back.  Russia,  in  a  relatively  torpid  condition, 
lies  extended  in  a  narrow  belt  along  the  endless  trade- 


VI.  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  1 95 

route  which  stretches  from  the  Gulf  of  Finland  to 
the  Pacific.  Her  outlets  are  through  Vladivostok  and 
Port  Arthur.  Between  these  two  ports  Korea  enters 
like  a  wedge.  Should  Japan  seize  the  peninsula,  she 
would  threaten  the  flanks  of  both  lines  of  communi- 
cation, and  the  Russian  position  would  become  pre- 
carious. 

Nor  can  the  Japanese  well  afford  to  remain  passive. 
Were  they  to  abide  within  their  islands  while  their 
competitors  opened  the  richest  mineral  beds  of  the 
world  at  their  doors,  their  very  existence  as  an  inde- 
pendent people  would  be  endangered.  The  Japanese 
have  developed  a  higher  order  of  energy  than  the 
Russians,  and  such  a  supposition  is  hardly  to  be  en- 
tertained. Yet  the  only  path  by  which  Japan  can 
expand  is  through  Korea  ;  if  she  occupy  Korea  she 
will  flank  the  Russian  trade-routes ;  and  when  she 
flanks  the  Russian  trade-routes  the  Russian  Empire 
will  totter. 

Such  conditions  have  heretofore  led  to  well-defined 
results  ;  and  if  the  future  is  to  be  judged  by  the  past, 
a  collision  is  impending.  Should  it  take  place,  it 
would  tend  toward  a  fundamental  social  and  political 
readjustment. 

Save  as  an  amusement  for  the  antiquary,  history 
and  economics  which  deal  with  the  past  without  ref- 
erence to  the  present  have  no  significance.  Research 
for  its  own  sake  is  futile.  The  only  practical  value 
which  these  studies  can  have  is  the  light  they  throw 
upon  the  present  and  the  future. 

The  theory  advanced  in  this  volume  may  be  con- 
densed somewhat  as  follows :  For  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  a  working  hypothesis,  it  is  assumed    that 


196  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

men  are  evolved  from  their  environment  like  other 
animals,  and  that  their  intellectual,  moral,  and  social 
qualities  may  be  investigated  as  developments  from 
the  struggle  for  life.  If  so,  these  qualities  are  to  be 
accounted  for  as  means  of  offence,  or  defence,  as  aids 
in  satisfying  their  needs,  or  as  survivals  from  the  past 
which  have  not  been  discarded.  In  the  effort  to 
live  each  animal  will  use  the  means  best  fitted  to 
its  nature,  but  as  external  conditions  are  in  eternal 
movement,  man's  destiny  must  largely  depend  on  his 
flexibility. 

Food  is  the  first  necessity,  but  as  most  regions  pro- 
duce food  more  or  less  abundantly,  the  pinch  lies  not 
so  much  in  the  existence  of  food  itself,  as  in  its  dis- 
tribution. To  satisfy  their  hunger  men  must  not  only 
be  able  to  defend  their  own,  but,  in  case  of  dearth, 
to  rob  their  neighbors  where  they  cannot  buy,  for 
the  weaker  must  perish.  Men  who  cannot  fight  well 
enough  for  these  purposes,  tend  to  fall  into  servitude 
where  their  labor  is  valuable,  and  where  it  is  worth- 
less to  be  exterminated. 

Life  may  be  destroyed  as  effectually  by  peaceful 
competition  as  by  war.  A  nation  which  is  under- 
sold may  perish  by  famine  as  completely  as  if  slaugh- 
tered by  a  conqueror.  Therefore,  men  thrown  into 
acute  competition  with  rivals  must  have  the  ingenuity 
to  secure  an  equality  of  equipment,  else  they  will 
suffer ;  it  may  be  by  hunger,  it  may  be  by  the  sword, 
but  in  either  case  the  purpose  of  nature  will  be  at- 
tained.    Nature  abhors  the  weak. 

For  these  reasons,  men  have  striven  to  equip  them- 
selves well  for  the  combat,  and  since  the  end  of  the 
Stone  Age  no  nation,  in  the  more  active  quarters  of 


VI.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  I97 

the  globe,  has  been  able  to  do  so  without  a  supply  of 
relatively  cheap  metal.  Thus  the  position  of  the 
mines  has  influenced  the  direction  of  travel.  To 
supply  themselves  with  what  they  lack  men  must 
trade  or  rob ;  and  on  the  whole  trading  has  been  the 
cheaper.  But  to  buy  and  sell  there  must  be  a  market, 
which  can  only  be  reached  by  travel,  and  in  travel- 
ling, as  in  all  functions  of  life,  men  follow  the 
paths  of  least  resistance.  It  is  because  a  highway 
offers  slight  resistance  that  it  is  a  highway.  Further- 
more, the  object  of  the  inhabitants  of  each  market 
must  be  to  make  their  highways  as  little  resistant  as 
possible,  that  they  may  attract  custom,  and  thus  is 
generated  an  administration  which  supervises  repairs 
and  police. 

Because  wayfarers  meet  at  cross-roads,  markets 
grow  at  cross-roads.  When  the  territory  tributary 
to  a  market  is  considerable,  and  the  administrative 
machinery  is  somewhat  ramified,  we  call  the  organism 
a  state ;  when  it  is  vast  we  call  it  an  empire.  There- 
fore the  state  or  the  empire  is  an  outgrowth  of  trade, 
and  usually  spreads  along  the  lines  of  converging 
trade-routes. 

As  important  markets  always  lie  at  the  meeting  of 
several  ways,  and  as  the  movement  on  trade-routes 
is  variable,  the  prosperity  of  a  market,  or  a  nation,  is 
uncertain.  The  travel  on  a  trade-route  is  subject  to 
contingencies,  two  of  the  chief  being  the  discovery 
of  an  easier  path,  and  the  decay  of  the  terminus. 
Perhaps  the  terminus  most  certain  to  lose  its  value 
is  the  mine.  When  different  routes  connect  the  same 
termini,  the  markets  along  these  routes  compete,  and 
are  sensitive  to  any  diversion  of  trade.     If  the  diver- 


198  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

sion  be  serious,  and  can  be  coped  with  by  no  cheaper 
means,  war  usually  ensues,  for  war  is  one  of  the  more 
drastic  methods  of  economic  competition.  In  the 
struggle  for  survival,  it  matters  little  how  the  adver- 
sary is  overcome  ;  the  object  is  success.  The  problem 
presented  is  purely  a  choice  of  means.  War,  there- 
fore, may  be  profitable  by  closing  a  rival  route,  or 
making  it  dangerous  and  costly,  even  if  the  enemy 
cannot  be  totally  destroyed.  When  trade-routes 
shift,  markets  move  and  the  seat  of  empire  is  dis- 
placed. This  displacement  we  call  a  revolution.  It 
is  the  most  portentous  of  all  catastrophes,  usually 
involving  long  wars,  and  many  thousands  or  millions 
of  lives.  Nevertheless,  the  dominant  market  of  the 
world,  or  chief  seat  of  empire,  seldom  abides  very 
long  in  a  single  city ;  the  causes  which  affect  its 
supremacy  are  too  complex. 

For  example,  mines  are  at  once  the  most  ephem- 
eral and  the  most  valuable  of  possessions,  and  accord- 
ingly mines  have  always  profoundly  influenced  the 
social  equilibrium.  As  central  Asia  appears  to  have 
been  the  cradle  of  civilization,  men  exhausted  the 
nearest  mines  first,  and  then  prospected  for  more, 
the  easiest  path  being  by  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
ocean.  The  imperial  market  has,  on  the  whole,  only 
followed  the  avenue  of  least  resistance  westward 
toward  the  minerals. 

The  character  of  this  oscillation  to  and  fro  of  the 
seat  of  energy  may  be  Hkened  to  a  cyclone,  where 
the  highest  velocity  is  attained  within  the  central  vor- 
tex, the  tendency  to  calm  being  proportionate  to  the 
distance  from  the  point  of  disturbance.  As  the  vor- 
tex advances,  agitation  becomes  violent  in  the  com- 


VI.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  1 99 

munities  lying  in  the  path  of  the  movement,  while  in 
its  wake  ebullition  yields  to  lassitude,  lassitude  passes 
into  torpor,  and  torpor  not  infrequently  ends  in  death. 

This  theory  can  be  applied  to  the  history  of  the 
last  fifty  years  and  its  soundness  tested.  A  half- 
century  ago  the  centre  of  mineral  production  lay, 
probably,  in  Great  Britain.  The  most  frequented 
trade-routes  between  the  East  and  West  converged 
at  English  ports,  and  Europe  was  the  unquestioned 
seat  of  intellectual  and  physical  activity,  although 
the  United  States,  lying  in  the  path  of  the  advance, 
was  highly  stimulated.  Passing  beyond  the  shore 
of  the  Pacific,  quietude  prevailed.  Japan  had  slum- 
bered for  two  centuries.  On  June  21,  1849,  the 
first  Californian  gold  reached  Liverpool,  and  the 
United  States  entered  upon  her  career  as  an  interna- 
tional vendor  of  the  metals.  In  1897  she  achieved 
supremacy  in  iron  and  steel.  Meanwhile,  if  the 
theory  advanced  be  sound,  a  certain  series  of  phe- 
nomena should  have  occurred  both  in  Europe  and 
Asia.  First,  Europe  should  have  declined  in  relative 
energy. 

In  1850  Russia  had  reached  her  zenith.  In  1849 
she  crushed  Hungary,  exiled  Kossuth,  and  made 
Austria  subservient  to  her.  Within  a  little  more 
than  sixty  years  she  had  pushed  her  frontier  600 
miles  westward  toward  Berlin,  and  450  miles  toward 
Constantinople ;  she  had  so  robbed  Sweden  that 
what  she  took  exceeded  what  she  left.  She  inspired 
general  terror,  and  that  terror  took  the  form  of  a 
coalition  for  attack.  The  coalition  succeeded ;  for, 
since  the  Crimean  War,  Russia  has  steadily  declined 
in  relative  weight  in  Europe.      On  this  point  the 


200  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

literature  of  fifty  years  ago  is  decisive.  No  one  now 
fears  Russian  aggression ;  no  one  dreams  it  possible 
that  Europe  should  become  Cossack,  as  Napoleon 
suggested  at  St.  Helena.  It  will  be  much  if 
Russia  succeeds  in  keeping  the  peace,  in  paying  her 
debts,  and  maintaining  the  integrity  of  her  empire. 
In  the  late  Chinese  rebellion,  in  spite  of  her  railway, 
and  all  the  preparations  of  fifty  years,  she  could  not 
concentrate  an  army  corps  upon  her  eastern  frontier  ; 
yet,  in  the  Crimean  War,  perhaps  her  most  brilliant 
exploit  was  the  rout  of  the  allied  squadrons  in  their 
attack  on  the  wretched  and  exposed  hamlet  of 
Petropavlofsk,  in  Kamchatka. 

In  Germany  a  somewhat  similar  process  has  gone  on, 
only  Germany  has  run  a  more  brilliant  course,  as  the 
country  is  more  compact.  With  the  change  in  the 
direction  of  her  trade-routes,  near  three  centuries  ago, 
Brandenburg  received  an  impulsion.  But  Branden- 
burg is  the  nucleus  of  Prussia,  which  in  turn  is  the 
heart  of  Germany.  The  cause  being  permanent,  the 
effect  was  constant,  and  north  Germany  gathered 
energy,  compared  to  other  countries,  until  the  final 
consolidation  took  place  in  1870.  That  consolidation, 
by  accelerating  domestic  transportation  and  exchanges, 
aided  in  the  development  of  the  German  minerals, 
and,  through  cheap  minerals,  stimulated  industry. 
The  consequence  was  a  steady  relative  advance,  up 
to  a  period  subsequent  to  the  French  war.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  Russia  and  Germany,  belonging  to  a 
different  economic  system  from  America  and  England, 
have,  as  yet,  lost  nothing  through  the  displacement 
of  their  trade-routes.  On  the  contrary,  they  have 
benefited   by  the  tendency  of   England  to  fall   into 


VI.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  201 

commercial  excentricity,  for  this  has  encouraged  di- 
rect communications  between  the  United  States  and 
Bremen  and  Hamburg.  As  ocean  routes  have 
straightened,  the  German  merchant  marine  has  grown. 
Germany  and  Russia,  therefore,  have  hitherto  only 
been  affected  by  a  quickening  of  American  competi- 
tion, which  has  reduced  the  prices  of  grain,  iron,  steel, 
coal,  and  sugar,  and  has  raised  the  standard  of  in- 
telligence. 

Yet,  admittedly,  Germany  occupies  a  critical  posi- 
tion, because  of  her  lack  of  minerals  and  her  difficulty 
in  expansion.  Moreover,  the  absorption  of  the  West 
Indies  by  the  United  States  will,  probably,  ruin  one 
of  her  chief  investments.  In  the  future,  also,  there 
looms  up  the  question  of  central  Asiatic  exchanges, 
and  the  permanence  of  the  Russian  Empire.  Nor 
is  this  all.  There  are  indications  that  Germany  is 
not  keeping  fully  abreast  of  the  movement  of  the  age. 
For  example,  the  young  Americans  of  1850,  who 
wished  to  be  mining  engineers,  studied  in  Germany, 
because  the  Germans  ranked  first  as  miners.  Ameri- 
cans, educated  in  America,  are  now  preferred  in  the 
international  market.  The  gold  mines  of  the  Trans- 
vaal are  confided  to  American  engineers.  There 
is  no  disputing  such  a  test.  Notably  also,  doubts  are 
growing  as  to  the  condition  of  the  German  army. 
The  suspicion  is  abroad  that,  since  1870,  it  has  not 
kept  pace  with  modern  methods,  that  conservatism 
has  conquered  the  administration.  Certainly  the 
expedition  fitted  out  with  such  elaboration  for  China 
did  Httle  credit  to  the  staff.  The  position  of  Germany 
has  hardly  strengthened  since  the  great  quickening 
in  America  occurred. 


202  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

It  is,  however,  in  the  west  of  Europe,  among  the 
nations  affiliated  with  the  British  system,  that  the 
more  serious  symptoms  are  to  be  anticipated.  Of 
France  it  is  needless  to  speak.  France  has  long 
shown  indications  of  decay,  and  of  late  she  has  al- 
most retired  from  international  competition.  She  still 
accumulates  wealth,  partly  through  the  frugality  of 
her  people,  partly  because  of  certain  monopolies  which 
she  enjoys,  such  as  her  vineyards,  and  partly  because 
of  artistic  genius,  which  enables  her  to  attract  for- 
eigners to  Paris  for  education,  for  pleasure,  or  for 
the  purchase  of  luxuries.  Still,  the  France  of  1900 
has  fallen  far,  in  relative  consequence,  not  only  from 
the  France  of  Colbert,  or  of  Bonaparte,  but  from  the 
France  of  the  Crimea,  of  Solferino  and  Magenta. 

Spain  has  disintegrated  through  diversion  of  the 
trade-routes  of  the  West  India  Islands  from  Europe 
to  the  United  States.  When  Europe  bought  the  Cuban 
cane,  Cuba  was  loyal  to  Spain.  Now  America  buys, 
and  Cuba  turns  to  the  Union. 

Great  Britain,  however,  is  most  suggestive,  for  the 
United  Kingdom  and  the  empire  of  Japan,  both 
groups  of  islands  lying  on  opposite  sides  of  America, 
the  one  in  the  apparent  path,  the  other  in  the  wake, 
of  the  social  cyclone,  should  be  supplementary  to 
each  other. 

In  1850  England  held  a  position  which  has  been 
rarely  equalled.  The  centre  of  the  maritime  system, 
she  was  also  the  chief  seat  of  production  of  the  use- 
ful metals,  the  focus  of  industry,  and  the  leading 
banker  of  the  world.  Her  trade  was  the  largest  and 
the  most  active,  her  domestic  transportation  the  most 
complete,  rapid,  and  cheap,  and  her  intellectual  ac- 


VI.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE  203 

tivity  the  greatest,  of  any  community  then  existing. 
Her  political  institutions  were  generally  taken  as  a 
model,  her  inventors,  such  as  Watt  and  Stevenson, 
had,  within  living  memory,  revolutionized  human  rela- 
tions, while  Darwin  was  meditating  his  Origin  of 
Species.  The  foundations  of  the  Crystal  Palace,  in 
which  the  first  international  exhibition  was  held,  were 
laid  in  Hyde  Park,  in  September,  1850,  and  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  did  not  die  until  1852.  Since  Welling- 
ton, indeed.  Great  Britain  has  produced  no  famous 
commander,  but  in  the  Crimean  War  her  soldiers  still 
retained  their  ancient  vigor  in  attack.  The  Charge 
of  the  Light  Brigade  will  remain  one  of  the  heroic 
actions  of  the  century.  Meanwhile,  in  1850,  Japan, 
upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  globe,  lay  closed  to  for- 
eign intercourse,  a  torpid,  mediaeval  community. 

At  the  breath  of  the  advancing  cyclone,  Japan 
awoke,  suddenly  stimulated  into  feverish  activity. 
Japan's  movement  is  typical  of  the  age  of  electricity 
and  steam.  In  one  short  generation  she  reorganized 
her  government,  her  education,  her  commercial  and 
industrial  methods,  her  navy,  and  her  army.  Her 
history  is  known  to  all  Christendom,  it  need  not  be 
recapitulated,  a  single  example  will  suffice ;  and,  as 
a  nation  usually  concentrates  its  energy  in  the  highest 
degree  on  war,  perhaps  the  institution  most  emblem- 
atic of  modem  Japan  is  her  army. 

Judged  by  any  standard  known  to  us,  that  army 
must  rank  high.  The  campaigns  of  1894  and  1895 
might  ser\'e  as  models.  In  a  foreign,  unknown,  and 
difllicult  country,  in  midwinter,  the  troops  kept  the 
field ;  the  commissariat  and  the  medical  departments 
proved  effective ;    the  transportation  of  80,000  men 


204  "^^^  N^^   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

to  Korea  was  managed  rapidly  and  without  loss,  in 
the  face  of  a  fleet  of  equal  power ;  the  men  showed 
endurance,  patience,  and  courage ;  the  officers,  skill, 
coolness,  and  impetuosity  in  attack,  while  the  impact 
of  the  navy  was  terrific. 

Nor  can  it  be  urged  that  the  Chinese  were  im- 
potent. On  the  contrary,  the  Chinese  were  then 
capable  of  a  much  sterner  resistance  than  during 
the  rebellion  of  1900,  when  their  troops  were  little 
better  than  a  mob;  and  yet,  in  1900,  they  were  able 
not  only  to  repulse  a  British  admiral,  but  to  hold 
Tientsin  stubbornly  against  the  allies.  The  Japan- 
ese shattered  the  Chinese  military  strength  in  1894. 

Among  many  brilliant  operations,  perhaps  none 
was  more  remarkable  than  the  storming  of  Phyong- 
yang.  Phyongyang  in  Korea  is  a  town  of  20,000 
inhabitants,  to  the  west  of  the  Taidong  River,  very 
strong  by  nature,  and  very  strongly  fortified  by  the 
Chinese.  The  banks  of  the  river  are  steep,  and  the 
stream  winds  round  nearly  three  sides  of  the  city. 
The  city  was  well  walled,  and  surrounded  by  re- 
doubts which  had  been  skilfully  built.  The  fortifica- 
tions were  mounted  with  field  and  mountain  guns, 
and  the  garrison  armed  with  magazine  Mauser  rifles. 
It  was  1 3,000  strong.  The  Japanese  had  rather  above 
14,000  men  available  for  the  assault.  After  the  victory 
the  Japanese  officers  admitted  that  they  would  have 
awaited  reenforcements  had  they  appreciated  the 
power  of  the  fortress. 

The  main  attack  was  on  the  forts  to  the  north,  but 
a  feint  to  the  south  exemphfies  Japanese  fighting. 
The  demonstration  began  at  4.30  a.m.  The  forts 
were  held  by  the  best  Chinese  troops,  armed  with 


VI,  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  205 

Mausers.  There  was  no  cover.  Nevertheless  the 
Japanese  carried  the  outworks  of  two  of  the  four 
forts,  and  planted  their  flag  on  the  ramparts.  The 
Chinese  then  retired  to  their  inner  lines  and  swept 
the  enemy  with  a  furious  cross-fire,  who,  having  ex- 
hausted their  ammunition,  had  to  search  the  bodies 
of  their  dead  comrades  for  cartridges.  Finally  the 
Japanese  assaulted  again,  but,  being  unable  to  climb 
the  banks  on  account  of  their  height,  withdrew. 
Though  only  a  diversion,  the  fighting  had  been  san- 
guinary. All  the  officers  were  killed  or  wounded 
in  the  Second  and  Tenth  companies  of  the  Twenty- 
first  Regiment,  and  the  Fourth  company  was  led  by 
an  ensign.  The  commanding  general  was  wounded. 
The  object  of  the  battle  had  been  only  to  divert  atten- 
tion from  the  main  attack.  On  the  north  the  assault 
on  Peony  Mountain  was  brilliantly  successful,  and 
the  capture  of  the  Gemmu  Gate  has  become  famous. 

The  details  of  the  storming  of  Peony  Mountain 
are  too  long  and  intricate  to  be  described  here. 
They  should  be  studied  with  a  map,  but  the  cap- 
ture of  the  Gemmu  Gate  was  quick  and  simple,  and 
has  been  thus  related  by  an  Englishman :  — 

The  Gemmu  Gate  was  the  one  nearest  to  Peony 
Mountain.  Colonel  Sato  tried  it,  after  the  mountain 
fell,  but  the  Chinese  held  the  wall  so  well  that  the 
column  recoiled  before  the  fire.  As  the  troops  fell 
back,  "  Lieutenant  Mimura,  burning  with  shame  at 
the  repulse,  shouted  to  his  men,  '  Who  will  come 
with  me  to  open  that  gate.?'  and  at  once  rushed 
toward  the  Gemmu  Gate.  Harada,  one  of  the  sol- 
diers of  Mimura,  then  said,  'Who  will  be  the  first 
on  the  wall.?'  and  flew  after  his  officer.     They  ran 


206  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  CHAP. 

SO  quickly  that  only  eleven  other  soldiers  were  able 
to  join  them  under  the  wall  after  passing  through  a 
rain  of  lead.  Mimura  and  his  small  band  of  heroes 
found  the  gate  too  strong  to  be  forced,  so  the  lieu- 
tenant gave  the  order  to  scale  the  walls.  The  Chi- 
nese were  busy  firing  in  front,  keeping  the  Japanese 
troops  back,  and  never  imagined  that  a  handful  of 
men  would  have  the  boldness  to  climb  the  walls  like 
monkeys  under  their  very  eyes.  Mimura  and  his 
men  came  upon  them  with  such  surprise  that  they 
were  scattered  in  an  instant.  The  Japanese  at  once 
jumped  down  inside  the  walls  and  rushed  to  the  gate, 
killing  three  of  its  defenders,  and  dispersing  the  rest, 
Mimura  cutting  right  and  left  with  his  sword."  ^ 

Compare  this  energy  with  the  lassitude  shown  by 
Great  Britain  in  the  Boer  War.  The  two  sahent  char- 
acteristics of  the  English  army  were  incompetence 
among  the  officers  and  feebleness  among  the  men. 
Again  and  again  detachments,  as  at  Nicholson's  Nee, 
surrendered  under  disgraceful  circumstances  to  in- 
ferior forces  of  the  enemy;  while  Gatacre's  rout  at 
Stormberg,  Methuen's  timidity  at  Kimberley,  and 
BuUer's  panic  at  Colenso  are  too  recent  to  be  for- 
gotten. Japanese  generals  behaved  not  thus.  Jap- 
anese soldiers  always  display  reckless  courage  and 
stubborn  endurance.  Japan,  though  a  poor  country, 
with  a  fleet  no  stronger  than  that  of  her  enemy,  and 
transports  bought  for  the  occasion,  landed  between 
80,000  and  100,000  men  in  a  wild,  difficult,  and  un- 
known region,  in  which  she  had  no  base.  Japan 
carried  on  her  operations  without  foreign  loans,  and 
yet  trade  flourished.  In  regard  to  soldiers,  she  had 
her  whole  male  population  at  her  call. 

"^  The  China-Japan  W^^r,  Vladimir,  157. 


VI.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  207 

The  United  Kingdom,  the  supposed  seat  of  energy, 
of  capital,  and  of  empire,  engaged  in  a  petty  broil 
with  50,000  farmers,  with  undisputed  control  of  the 
sea,  and  a  fortified  base  adjoining  the  enemy's  fron- 
tier, not  only  failed  to  concentrate  her  forces  in  the 
field  as  rapidly  and  effectively  as  the  Japanese,  but 
with  prostrated  trade  had  to  rely  on  France  and  the 
United  States  for  financial  support,  and  upon  her 
colonies  for  men.  She  could  not  fill  her  ranks  from 
her  own  citizens.  Mark  also  the  content  of  the 
British  public  with  their  mihtary  performance. 
Throughout  the  war  they  made  no  serious  effort  to 
improve,  and  since  the  peace  they  exult  as  in  an 
heroic  victory.  He  who  reads  the  letters  of  Sym- 
machus  may  observe  the  same  complacency  on  the 
eve  of  the  sack  of  Rome.  Inertia  pervades  all  Eng- 
lish society.  The  system  of  education  is  admittedly 
defective  because  controlled  by  the  clergy,  who  are  a 
conservative  class,  and  yet  the  hold  of  the  clergy 
upon  the  schools  is  unshaken.  The  relative  decline 
in  the  purchasing  power  of  England  may  be  gauged 
by  a  single  example.  A  generation  ago  the  United 
Kingdom  bought  two-thirds  of  the  total  American 
cotton  crop.     She  now  buys  less  than  a  quarter. 

In  industry  the  same  phenomenon  appears.  As 
lately  as  1866  she  manufactured  48.7  per  cent  of 
the  pig  iron  of  the  world.  In  1901  only  19.2.  Gold 
mining  is,  perhaps,  the  occupation  which  most  excites 
the  British  imagination,  and  yet  the  British  cannot 
work  their  own  property.  "  The  great  mining  mag- 
nates of  South  Africa,  having  the  whole  world  before 
them  to  choose  from,  have  preferred  American  min- 
ing engineers,  and  as  the  mining  industry  in  South 


208  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  chap. 

Africa  has  proved  to  be  so  marvellous  a  success,  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  result  has  justified 
the  selection."  ^ 

Such  instances  might  be  multiplied,  but  these  suf- 
fice. Each  man  can  ponder  the  history  of  the  last 
fifty  years,  and  judge  for  himself  whether  the  facts 
show  that  Great  Britain  apparently  lies  in  the  wake, 
and  Japan  in  the  path,  of  the  advancing  social  cyclone. 

The  world  seems  agreed  that  the  United  States  is 
likely  to  achieve,  if  indeed  she  has  not  already 
achieved,  an  economic  supremacy.  The  vortex  of 
the  cyclone  is  near  New  York.  No  such  activity 
prevails  elsewhere ;  nowhere  are  undertakings  so 
gigantic,  nowhere  is  administration  so  perfect ;  no- 
where are  such  masses  of  capital  centraHzed  in  single 
hands.  And  as  the  United  States  becomes  an  im- 
perial market,  she  stretches  out  along  the  trade- 
routes  which  lead  from  foreign  countries  to  her 
heart,  as  every  empire  has  stretched  out  from  the 
days  of  Sargon  to  our  own.  The  West  Indies  drift 
toward  us,  the  Republic  of  Mexico  hardly  longer  has 
an  independent  life,  and  the  city  of  Mexico  is  an 
American  town.  With  the  completion  of  the  Panama 
Canal  all  Central  America  will  become  a  part  of  our 
system.  We  have  expanded  into  Asia,  we  have 
attracted  the  fragments  of  the  Spanish  dominions, 
and  reaching  out  into  China  we  have  checked  the 
advance  of  Russia  and  Germany,  in  territory  which, 
until  yesterday,  had  been  supposed  to  be  beyond  our 
sphere.  We  are  penetrating  into  Europe,  and  Great 
Britain  especially  is  gradually  assuming  the  position 
of  a  dependency,  which  must  rely  on  us  as  the  base 

^  The  Statist,  July  12,  1902,  pages  67,  68. 


VI.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  209 

from  which  she  draws  her  food  in  peace,  and  with- 
out which  she  could  not  stand  in  war. 

Supposing  the  movement  of  the  next  fifty  years 
only  to  equal  that  of  the  last,  instead  of  undergoing 
a  prodigious  acceleration,  the  United  States  will 
outweigh  any  single  empire,  if  not  all  empires  com- 
bined. The  whole  world  will  pay  her  tribute.  Com- 
merce will  flow  to  her  both  from  east  and  west,  and 
the  order  which  has  existed  from  the  dawn  of  time 
will  be  reversed. 

But  if  commerce,  instead  of  flowing  from  east  to 
west,  as  heretofore,  changes  its  direction,  trade-routes 
must  be  displaced,  and  the  political  organisms  which 
rest  upon  those  routes  must  lose  their  foundation. 
Russia,  for  example,  could  hardly  continue  to  exist 
in  her  present  form  if  the  commerce  of  Siberia  were 
to  flow  toward  America  instead  of  toward  the  Baltic. 
Yet  if  Russia  should  disintegrate  she  would  dis- 
integrate because  of  causes  so  widespread  and 
deep-working  that  they  would  affect  Great  Britain 
with  equal  energy ;  for  the  inference  to  be  drawn 
from  human  experience  is  that  the  rise  of  a  new 
dominant  market  indicates  the  recentralization  of 
trade-routes,  and  with  trade-routes,  of  empires.  Such 
changes,  should  they  occur,  would  clearly  alter  the 
whole  complexion  of  civilization.  Speculation  con- 
cerning their  character,  or  the  time  of  their  advent, 
would  be  futile,  as  history  offers  no  precedent  by 
which  we  can  measure  the  effects  to  be  anticipated 
from  an  alteration  so  radical  as  the  reversal  of  the 
direction  of  the  channel  of  trade.  It  may,  however, 
be  permissible  to  draw  certain  inferences  regarding 
the  present. 


210  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  chap. 

Society  is  now  moving  with  intense  velocity,  and 
masses  are  gathering  bulk  with  proportionate  rapidity. 
There  is  some  reason  also  to  surmise  that  the  equi- 
librium is  correspondingly  deUcate  and  unstable.  If 
so  apparently  slight  a  cause  as  a  fall  in  prices  for  a 
decade  has  sufficed  to  propel  the  seat  of  empire 
across  the  Atlantic,  an  equally  slight  derangement 
of  the  administrative  functions  of  the  United  States 
might  force  it  to  cross  the  Pacific.  The  metalUc 
resources  of  China  are  not  inferior  to  ours,  and  dis- 
tance offers  daily  less  impediment  to  the  migration 
of  capital.  Prudence,  therefore,  would  dictate  the 
adoption  of  measures  to  minimize  the  likelihood  of 
sudden  shocks.  As  Nature  increases  the  velocity  of 
movement,  she  augments  her  demands  on  human 
adaptability.  She  allowed  our  ancestors  a  century 
to  become  habituated  to  innovations  which  we 
must  accept  forthwith.  Those  who  fail  to  keep  the 
pace  are  discarded.  Conversely,  those  who,  other 
things  being  equal,  first  reach  an  adjustment,  retain 
or  improve  a  relative  advantage.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances but  one  precaution  can  be  taken  against 
the  chances  of  the  future.  That  intellectual  quality 
can  be  strengthened  on  which  falls  the  severest  strain, 
so  that  our  descendants  may  be  prepared  to  meet  any 
eventuality.  The  young  can  be  trained  to  adaptabil- 
ity. The  methods  are  perfectly  understood ;  the  dif- 
ficulty lies  in  application.  Success  in  the  future 
promises,  largely,  to  turn  on  the  power  of  rapid 
generalization,  for  administration  is  only  the  prac- 
tical side  of  generalization.  It  is  the  faculty  of  re- 
ducing details  to  an  intelligent  order.  The  masses 
generated  in  modern  life  exercise  this  faculty  in  its 
highest  form. 


VI.  THE  NEW   EMPIRE  211 

On  its  theoretical  side  generalization  necessitates 
the  maintenance  of  an  open  mind.  It  is  inconsistent 
with  subserviency  to  a  priori  dogmas.  Nothing  is 
permitted  to  stand  as  fixed,  and  the  individual  is 
trained  to  hold  the  judgment  in  suspense,  subject  to 
new  evidence.  Such  a  temper  of  the  mind  tends 
to  reduce  the  friction  of  adjustment. 

If  the  New  Empire  should  develop,  it  must  be  an 
enormous  complex  mass,  to  be  administered  only  by 
means  of  a  cheap,  elastic,  and  simple  machinery ;  an 
old  and  clumsy  mechanism  must,  sooner  or  later, 
collapse,  and  in  sinking  may  involve  a  civilization. 
If  these  deductions  are  sound,  there  is  but  one  great 
boon  which  the  passing  generation  can  confer  upon 
its  successors :  it  can  aid  them  to  ameliorate  that  ser- 
vitude to  tradition  which  has  so  often  retarded  sub- 
mission to  the  inevitable  until  too  late. 


APPENDIX 
CHAPTER  I 

SECTION   I 


B.C. 


Egyptian  magnificence  began  with  Sneferu,  who  con- 
quered the  Maghara  copper  mines  about  .         .         .       4000 
Cheops,  his  successor,  built  the  Great  Pyramid  about  .       3950 
Nubia  conquered  by  Una  under  VI.  dynasty,  about       .      3450 
Period  of  decay  and  movement  of  the  capital  south, 
VII.  to  X.  dynasty,  probably  caused  by  an  invasion  of  a 
Mesopotamian  conqueror,  possibly  a  successor  of  Sargon.^ 
Rise  of  Mesopotamia,  the  distributing  point  between  the 
East  and  Egypt.     Sargon's  empire  included  the  copper 
mines  of  Cj-prus,  probably  those  of  Sinai,  and  later,  per- 
haps, northern  Egypt       .......       3850 

Contemporaneous  with  Sargon  probable  advent  of 
Phoenicians  in  Syria  and  the  development  through  them 
of  the  basin  of  the  Mediterranean,  Crete's  greatest  pros- 
perity, toward 2400 

Utica,  Cadiz,  and  Carthage  probably  began  to  flourish 
about  this  period. 

Babylonian  supremacy  opened  with  Hammurabi  about      2250 
Following  upon  the  development  of  the  basin  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  the  extension  of  the  market  westward, 
the  trade-route  moved  north  from  Babylon  to  the  shorter 
line  of  travel  from  Bactra  to  the  sea  via  Nineveh. 

Rise  of  Assyria 

Salmanassar  founded  Calach  at  the  junction  of  the 
Great  Zab  and  Tigris,  twenty  miles  from  Nineveh,  about       1300 

1  History  of  Egypt,  Petrie,  I.,  120. 
213 


214  APPENDIX 


B.C. 


The  Assyrians  fought  steadily  and  successfully  to  keep 
open  the  direct  trade-route  from  Bactra  to  the  Medi- 
terranean coast,  but  failed  to  force  the  passes  through 
Armenia  to  the  gold  fields  of  Lydia  and  the  Euxine. 
The  Assyrian  Empire  appears  to  have  collapsed  when 
unable  to  check  Grecian  colonization  in  the  Euxine, 
which  opened  a  cheaper  route  westward. 

Tiglat-Pileser  III.  defeated  at  Van,  which  stopped 
Assyrian  advance    ........        735 

The  eighth  century  was  the  period  of  the  strongest 
Greek  expansion  eastward. 

SECTION   II 

Greek  expansion  eastward  and  attack  on  Mesopotamian 
system.     Siege  of  Troy  about 1200 

Athenians  colonized  Miletus  toward     ....       1050 

Greek  exploration  of  and  trading  to  the  Euxine  prob- 
ably began  forthwith,  but  permanent  colonies  were  hardly 
established  much  before  the  eighth  century.^ 

The  Greeks  established  their  commercial  system  be- 
tween the  Caucasus  and  the  Rhone,  centring  at  Athens, 
Corinth,  and  Syracuse,  between     ....  800-600 

They  probably  founded  Panticapzeum,  Phasis,  Trapesus, 
Sinope,  Lampsacus  from  800-700  ;  Syracuse  (734),  Magna 
Graecia,  and  lasflVIarseilles,  about  .....         600 

Nineveh  could  not  withstand  this  competition,  which 
diverted  her  trade ;  by  650  she  was  in  full  decline,  and 
fell  in 606 

Babylon  captured  by  Cyrus  the  Persian        .         .        .        538 

SECTION   III 

Age  of  Greek  Splendor 

Mines  of  Laurium  in  operation  in       .         .         .        6th  cent. 
Temples  of  Corinth  and  .(tgina  built  perhaps  in  .         7th  cent. 
About  this  time  commercial  competition  between  the 
Mesopotamian   and    Greek   economic   systems    acquired 

^  Die  Ilellenen  ini  Skythenlande,  Neumann,  344-349. 


APPENDIX  215 

B.C. 

the  intensity  of  war.     In  the  sixth  century  Lydia  was 
the   centre   of  metallic   production,   which    reached   its 
height   under  Croesus     ......  560-546 

The  Persians  under  Cyrus  attacked  and  absorbed  Lydia, 

and  captured  Croesus 546 

The  wealth  thus  absorbed  by  Cyrus  enabled  Darius  to 
consoHdate  the  whole  Mesopotamian  system  in  Asia. 

Babylon   taken    538-518 

Northern  India  absorbed 512 

The  Persians  then  expanded  into  Europe.  War  with 
Greece  began  by  conquest  of  Imbros  and  Lemnos. 

Capture  of  Chalcedon  and  Byzantium  ....         505 

Capture  of  Miletus 494 

Marathon 490 

Xerxes  obeyed  the  impulsion  which  had  moved  Darius 
and  Cyrus.  The  whole  Mesopotamian  system  from  the 
Indus  to  Spain,  expanding  westward,  cast  itself  upon 
Greece.  Double  victory  of  the  Greeks,  over  the  Cartha- 
ginians in  Sicily  at  Himera,  and  over  the  Persians  at 

Salamis 480 

Plataea         .........        479 

After  the  defeat  of  the  Persians,  Athens  under  Pericles 
reached  her  highest  prosperity,  and  the  silver  mines  of 
Laurium  their  greatest  productiveness. 

Golden  Age  of  Athens 

Until  the  competition  between  Athens  and  Corinth  pre- 
cipitated the  Peloponnesian  War.  This  war  began  when 
Athens  aided  Corcyra  against  Corinth  in  ...         433 

Destruction  of  Athenian  military  strength  at  Syracuse        413 

Destruction  of  Athenian  naval  strength  at  yEgospot- 
amos       ..........        405 

Decline  of  Persia  so  that  Xenophon  marched  without 
resistance  through  the  empire  to  Trapezus  in  .         .         .         401 

Relative  decline  of  the  productiveness  of  Laurium  and 
of  the  energy  of  Athens  throughout  the  3d  and  4th  cent.^ 

1  Les  Mines  du  Laurioft  dans  V Antiquite,  Ardaillon,  150  et  seq. 


2l6  APPENDIX 

c  c 

SECTION   IV 

Macedon 

Development  of  gold  mines  of  Thrace  and  Macedonia. 
Philip  acquired  gold  mines  of  Mt.  Pangeus  and  founded 
Philippi 356 

Gold  mines  of  Macedon  yielded  1000  talents  annually, 
tenfold  the  yield  of  Laurium  under  Themistocles,  and 
Alexander  began  his  march 334 

Took  Tyre  and  cut  Mesopotamian  system  in  two  .         332 

Founded  Alexandria  with  view  to  ocean  trade-route  to 
India 332 

Marched  over  the  central  Asiatic  trade-routes  from 
Babylon  to  Bactra,  to  the  Khyber,  and  to  Pattala    .  331-326 

Voyage  of  Nearchus  to  explore  sea  trade-route  to 
Persian  Gulf 325 

Death  of  Alexander .        323 

It  was  with  the  treasures  of  Mt.  Pangeus  and  of  those 
conquered  in  Mesopotamia  that  Alexander  unified  his 
currency  and  laid  the  basis  of  the  consolidation  on  which 
the  Roman  Empire  rested. 

SECTION   V 

Rome 

The  consolidation  of  the  ancient  world  was  made 
possible  by  the  mass  of  treasure  collected  at  Rome  by 
pillage,  which  provided  a  material  for  exchanges  with  the 
East  for  several  centuries,  and  aided  the  development  of 
Italian  energy  by  defraying  the  cost  of  administration. 
As  the  mines  of  the  basin  of  the  ^gaeum  were  gradually 
exhausted  during  the  third  century,  the  centre  of  mineral 
production  and  of  energy  was  drawn  westward  by  the  pro- 
fusion of  the  ores  of  Spain.  The  Spanish  mines  have 
always  been  famous,  but  it  may  serve  to  give  some  notion 
of  the  wealth  Rome  drew  from  them  to  say  that  in  thirty- 
two  years  the  Roman  generals  exported  from  the  peninsula 
767,695  pounds  of  silver  and  10,918  pounds  of  gold,  with- 
out counting  fines  levied  on  towns.     These  were  very 


APPENDIX  217 

B.C. 
heavy ;  for  example,  Marcellus  levied  on  the  little  town  of 
Ocilis  a  contribution  of  $35,000,  and  it  was  thought  that 
Ocilis  had  escaped  cheaply.     Marcellus  is  said  to  have 
extracted  from  the  Celtiberians  $700,000. 

The  flow  of  metal  has  always  been  from  west  to  east, 
and  this  Spanish  ore  supplied  Carthage,  Sicily,  and 
Magna  Graecia.  The  abundance  of  the  precious  metals 
at  Carthage  seems  almost  incredible ;  but  the  splendor 
and  copiousness  of  the  coinage  of  Sicily  and  Magna 
Graecia  are  facts  beyond  dispute. 

Before  the  Punic  Wars  no  market  of  the  ancient  world 
equalled  Carthage.  Even  after  Zama  (202  B.C.)  Polybius 
called  the  city  the  richest  in  existence,  yet  it  had  then 
paid  to  Rome,  in  241  B.C.  3200  talents  (about  $3,700,000), 
in  238  B.C.  1200  talents,  in  202  B.C.  10,000  talents  (about 
$11,600,000),  and  Scipio  carried  away  123,000  pounds  of 
silver.  The  Temple  of  the  Sun  was  sheathed  with  plates 
of  gold  worth  1000  talents,  or  about  $1,200,000.  The 
highest  point  ever  reached  in  numismatic  art  was  the 
Syracusan  Persephone,  by  EYAINE,  weight  660.9  S^^-^ 
struck  under  Dionysius  I.         .         .         .         .         .  406-367 

Syracusan  coinage,  however,  showed  little  decline  until 
the  Second  Punic  War.  Two  of  the  most  exquisite  pieces 
ever  struck  are  of  Hiero  II.  and  his  wife  Philistis    .  270-216 

The  coinage  of  all  Magna  Grjecia  was  beautiful  and 
copious. 

The  wealth  of  Tarentum  was  so  great  as  to  be  pro- 
verbial, and  Rome  laid  the  basis  of  her  fortune  by  the 
capture  of  the  city  .......         272 

With  the  plunder  of  Tarentum  Rome  changed  her 
coinage  from  copper  to  silver 269 

With  the  wealth  thus  obtained  Rome  was  enabled  to 
conduct  the  First  Punic  War,  and  build  the  fleet  with 
which  she  routed  Carthage. 

First  Punic  War 264-241 

Plunder  of  Agrigentum         ......         262 

Ships  first  built  by  Romans  and  great  naval  victory 
won  by  the  consul  Duilius  over  the  Carthaginians  at 
Mylae 260 


2l8  APPENDIX 

B.C. 

Second  Punic  War 218-201 

Conquest  of  Spain  by  Rome        .....        207 
Zama  ..........         202 

Third  Punic  War 149-146 

Plunder  of  Carthage  and  Corinth  ....         146 

Between  the  sack  of  Tarentum  (272)  and  the  crossing  of 
the  Rubicon  by  Caesar  (49),  Rome  plundered  the  whole 
civilized  world  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Atlantic,  and  as 
far  north  as  the  English  Channel.  The  treasure  amassed 
at  Rome  in  the  time  of  Caesar  was  enormous.  In  47  gold 
stood  to  silver  only  as  i  :  8.9,  a  cheaper  rate  than  it  ever 
held  before  or  after.  This  amassing  of  metal  at  Rome 
gave  Italy  an  immense  purchasing  power,  provided  her 
with  an  universal  commodity  of  exchange,  and  caused  all 
trade-routes  to  centre  at  Rome  as  the  imperial  market. 
With  the  formation  of  the  Empire,  however,  plundering 
stopped,  and  Rome  had  neither  manufactures,  agriculture, 
nor  commerce,  apart  from  the  traffic  caused  by  her  pur- 
chases whereby  to  balance  her  importations  from  abroad. 
The  Romans,  moreover,  were  wasteful  and  extravagant, 
and  bought  lavishly  from  the  East  of  both  luxuries  and 
food.  Romcjltherefore  soon  began  to  impair  her  capital. 
Under  Augustus  gold  had  risen  in  relation  to  silver  to  the      A.D. 

ratio  of  1 : 9.3 I 

Thenceforward  the  depletion  of  the  supply  of  metal 
which  formed  the  capital  and  the  only  exchangeable  com- 
modity of  Rome  may  be  followed  by  the  debasement  of 
the  coinage.  The  silver  denarius,  worth  about  seven- 
teen cents,  retained  its  weight  and  purity  from  the  First 

Punic  War  (264  B.C.)  until  Nero 54-68 

Under  Nero  it  fell  from  g\  to  ^  of  a  pound  of  silver. 
Alloy  xV  copper.     The  alloy  reached  |  under  Trajan        .98-117 
The  alloy  reached  I  under  Septimius  Severus        .  193-21 1 

The  denarius  had  become  wholly  base  metal  and  was 
repudiated  under  Elagabalus    .....  218-222 

The  golden  aureus  passed  through  like  phases.  Under 
Augustus  the  aureus  weighed  5^  of  a  pound,  under  Dio- 
cletian ^V  284 


APPENDIX  219 


When  Rome  had  thus  been  stripped  of  metal,  she  lost 
her  purchasing  power  and  ceased  to  be  the  dominant 
market.  Trade  no  longer  centred  there,  and  under  Dio- 
cletian the  capital  of  the  Empire  receded  to  Nicomedia  on 
the  Propontis,  where  Diocletian  conducted  the  adminis- 
tration until  his  abdication 305 

With  the  exhaustion  of  the  metals  traffic  ceased  to  pay 
for  the  police  of  the  western  highways,  and  the  barbarians 
accordingly  crossed  the  border  unopposed         .         .         .         376 

Rome  was  sacked  by  Alaric,  who  led  bands  of  merce- 
naries who  had  mutinied  for  pay 410 

There  being  no  cohesive  energ}-  left,  the  western  con- 
solidation dissolved  into  its  elements        ....         476 

The  utter  exhaustion  of  Europe  in  the  sixth  century 
and  later  in  regard  to  minerals  can  be  measured  by  its 
coinage.  This  fell  for  several  centuries  into  complete 
degradation.^ 

There  was  a  corresponding  decline  in  movement  and 
energy.  Charlemagne  attempted  a  reform,  but  it  proved 
ephemeral.  This  is  shown  by  the  depreciation  of  the 
Venetian  denaro,  subsequent  to  Charlemagne's  death  in  .         814 

The  Venetian  denaro  was  0.900  pure  silver  and  weighed 
34  Venetian  grains  in        ......         .         814 

The  denaro  had  fallen  to  0.260  pure  silver  and  weighed 
but  22  grains  by  ^ .         .         970 

With  the  discovery  of  the  Rammelsberg  mines  about 
920,  silver  became  gradually  more  plentiful.  The  coins 
of  Otho  III.  are  especially  numerous,  —  but  a  reform  of 
the  currency  did  not  take  place  until  the  change  of  equi- 
librium between  the  old  and  new  economic  systems.  A 
change  marked  by  the  sack  of  Constantinople  .         .         .       1204 

And  the  JNIongol  invasions.     Battle  of  the  Kalka  .       1224 

The  doge,  Henry  Dandolo,  who  sacked  Constantinople, 
coined  the  grosso,  0.965  fine  silver  and  weighing  42y^^ 
grains.     The  grosso  was  the  first  standard  western  coin  .       1202 

^  See  for  full    details    Catalogue   des  Monnaies    Fran^aises    de    la 
Bibliotheque  Nationale.     Les  monnaies  Merovingiennes,  Maurice  Prou. 
2  Le  Monete  di  Venezia,  Papadopoli,  41,  52. 


220  APPENDIX 

A.D. 

Fifty  years  later  gold  appeared.  Florence  coined  the 
golden  florin,  Venice  the  ducat,  and  St.  Louis  the  crown, 
between     i 252-1 284 

The  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century  was  also  the 
period  of  the  great  development  of  the  Harz,  the  Bohe- 
mian, and  the  Tyrolese  silver  mines.  Thirty  thousand 
men  were  employed  in  the  mines  of  the  Tyrol  alone.^ 
This  was  the  epoch  also  when  Europe  developed  the 
highest  energy  she  achieved  before  the  discovery  of 
America.  It  was  the  era  of  splendor  of  the  Fairs  of 
Champagne,  of  the  Gothic  architecture,  and  of  Flanders. 


CHAPTER   II 
SECTION  I 

In  the  tenth  century  the  old  economic  system,  of  which 
Constantinople  and  Bagdad  were  the /oc/,  culminated. 

Contemporaneously,  western  Europe  fell  to  the  lowest 
point  of  its  decline  during  the  Dark  Ages. 


Constantinople  reached  her  greatest  splendor  during 
the  Macedonian  dynasty  .....        867-1057 

According  to  Gibbon,  Constantinople  actually  culmi- 
nated under  Nicephorus  Phocas  and  John  Zimisces  963-976 

Splendor  of  Kieff,  from  Saint  Vladimir  to  laroslaf  the 
Great 972-1054 

Splendor  of  Bagdad,  from  Haroun-al-Rashid  to  Al 
Rhadi 786-940 

SECTION   II 

I 

Toward  the  end  of  the  first  half  of  the  tenth  century 
the  discovery  and  working  of  the  German  silver  mines, 

1  Die  Geschichte  des  Eisens,  Ludwig  Beck,  I.,  759. 


APPENDIX  221 


under  Henry  the  Fowler  and  Otho  the  Great,  provided 
the  West  with  a  commodity  for  exchange  with  the  East. 
Simultaneously,  the  full   introduction   of  the   mariner's 
compass   led   to   direct   shipments   by   the    ocean   from 
China,  the  Spice  Islands,  and  India  to  Egypt.      Thus 
Mesopotamia  and  central  Asia,  Constantinople,  Bagdad, 
Bactra,    Samarkand,   and   their  like  were    thrown   into 
excentricity,   and  Alexandria,  Venice,   Genoa,   and   the 
Fairs  of  Champagne  became  dominant  markets. 

Western   society   in   chaos   when   Henry  the   Fowler 
succeeded  his  father  as  Duke  of  Saxony  .         .         .         gi2 

Henry  fortified  the  Harz  containing  the  Rammelsberg 
silver  mines  (Goslar,  Quedlinburg,  929,  Nordhausen)        919-929 

Established  the  Margravate  of  Brandenburg,  invaded 
Bohemia,  and  began  to  fortify  the  line  of  the  Elbe  926-930 

Won  great  victory  over  the  Huns  at  Merseburg   .         .        934 
Otho  the  Great    ........         936 

Drove  Huns  from  Germany  .....         955 

Otho  master  of  Italy  and  crowned  Emperor  by  Pope 
John  XII 962 

II 

Rapid  Rise  of  the  Cities  of  the  New  Economic  System 

960 


Bruges  walled 

Augsburg  dated  its  prosperity  from  the  battle  of  Lech 
feld,  near  Augsburg,  when  Otho  I.  defeated  the  Huns  in  .         955 

Afterward  building  considerable  additions  to  the  town 

Venice  became  mistress  of  the  Adriatic  in   . 

Cologne  established  a  counting-house  in  London,  which 
was  the  origin  of  the  Steelyard,  about     ....       1000 

Copious  finds  of  German  coins  of  the  reigns  of  the 
three   Othos,  especially  of  Otho  III.,  in  the  island  of 
Gothland,    demonstrate    the    prosperity    o'f    Novgorod, 
Wisby,   and   the   cities   of  the   Hanse,   as    well   as   the     ^  '^^ 
growing  abundance  of  silver  in  Germany  toward  the  year       1000 

Henry  III.  held  Diet  in  Nuremberg     ....       1050 

St.  Quentin  chartered 1080 


222  APPENDIX 

A,D, 

Council  of  Clermont  preached  First  Crusade        .        .  1095 

First  mention  of  Fairs  of  Champagne          .         .        .  11 14 

Liibeck  founded  . 1143 

Vienna  became  a  capital       .         .         .         .         .         .1156 

Crusade  against  northern  Russia  followed  by  founding 

of  Riga  and  formation  of  Teutonic  Order        .         .         .  11 98 

Dantzic  became  capital  of  the  Duchy  of  Pomerellen     .  1200 
Bloom  of  the  Fairs  of  Champagne      .         .         .      1200-1300 

III 

Egypt 

Splendor  of  Egypt  began  with  the  building  of  Cairo 

by  the  Caliph  Maiz  ed  Din      ......  969 

University  of  El  Azhar  founded 988 

Cairo  walled         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .1176 

Culmination  of  Egyptian  power  and  splendor  under 

Saladin 1174-1193 

Mosque  of  the  Sultan  Hassan 1356 

IV 

Decline  and  fall  of  the  old  economic  system  caused 
by  the  establishment  of  a  cheap  ocean  trade-route  from 
China  direct  to  the  Red  Sea. 

Decay  of  Constantinople   indicated  by  revolution  in 

which  Alexius  Comnenus  pillaged  the  city    .         .         .  1081 

Sack  of  Kieff  by  Andrew,  Prince  of  Suzdal          .         .  1169 

Sack  and  ruin  of  Constantinople  by  crusaders      .         .  1204 
Jenghiz  Khan  marched  from    Kashgar  on   the  valley 

of  the  Syr-Daria 1218 

Mongols  ravaged  central  Asia.  Otrar,  Bokhara,  Samar- 
kand sacked    .........  1219 

Khiva  sacked 1220 

Merv,  Herat,  Bamian  sacked 122 1 

Mongols  invaded  Russia.     Battle  of  the  Kalka    .         .  1224 

Vladimir  sacked 1237 

Moscow       .........  1237 


APPENDIX  223 

A.D. 

Kieff 1240 

Battle  of  Liegnitz.  destruction  of  Gran  and  devastation 

of  the  valley  of  upper  Vistula  and  lower  Danube     .         .       1241 
Settlement  of  the  Golden  Horde  in  southern  Russia 

and  building  of  Sarai  by  Batu  about        .         .         .      1245-1255 


CHAPTER  III 

SECTION  I 

Migration  of  the  Seat  of  Empire  from  the  Mediterra- 
nean TO  THE  Atlantic 

Flanders  and  the  Fairs  of  Champagne  decayed  because 
of  the  movement  of  the  trade-route  from  \'enice,  from 
the  Rhone  and  Seine,  to  the  ocean.  This  displacement 
was  the  effect  of  the  effort  of  France  to  consolidate  under 
one  administration  the  \-aIleys  of  the  Rhone,  Seine,  Loire, 
Garonne,  and  Scheldt.  The  wars  which  ensued,  coupled 
with  the  introduction  of  the  mariner's  compass,  caused 
sea  freights  to  undersell  land  freights. 

Ghent,  Bruges,  and  Ypres  reached  the  summit  of  their 
fortune  contemporaneously  with  the  splendor  of  the  Fairs 
of  Champagne  and  the  high  fortune  of  Venice.  Trade- 
route,  Cairo,  Alexandria,  Champagne,  Bruges,  London.  1 200-1 296 

Philip  the  Fair  invaded  Flanders  ....       1297 

Battle  of  Courtrai July  11,  1302 

Establishment  of  packet  sen-ice  between  V'enice  and 
Flandeis 1317 

Petition  of  merchants  to  avert  ruin  of  Fairs  of  Cham- 
pagne       1322 

Hundred  Years'  War,  caused  by  resistance  to  the  ex- 
tension of  the  administrative  system  of  France  over  the 
valleys  of  the  Scheldt  and  the  Garonne.  The  English 
title  to  Guienne  came  through  Queen  Eleanor  .         .       11 52 

Alliance,  in  consequence,  between  the  Flemish  and  Eng- 
lish.    Van  Artevelde  and  Edward  III.  acted  in  unison. 


224  APPENDIX 

A.D. 
Battle  of  Sluys,  in  which  Edward  III.  destroyed  French 
navy  off  Zealand      ........       1340 

Battle  of  Crecy Aug.  25,  1346 

Capture  of  Calais  by  Edward  III 1347 

Removal  of  English  wool  staple  from  Bruges  to  Calais       1348 
Bordeaux  became  the   capital   of  Edward  the  Black 
Prince 1363 

Beginning  of  Permanent  Decline  of  Flanders 

Close  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War.  Charles  VII.  re- 
gained Paris  from  the  English         .....       1436 

Migration  of  foreign  merchants  from  Bruges  to  Ant- 
werp, rise  of  Brabant  and  Antwerp  on  return  of  peace     .       1442 

Extinction  of  Fairs  of  Champagne       ....       1443 

SECTION  II 

Antwerp  owed  its  supremacy  to  its  geographical  posi- 
tion. Situated  just  above  the  point  where  the  Scheldt 
divides  into  two  branches,  separated  by  the  island  of 
Beveland,  the  East  Scheldt  leads  to  the  Rhine,  the  West 
Scheldt  is  the  direct  route  to  London.  Toward  France 
the  Scheldt  now  connects  with  the  Oise  by  canals ;  for- 
merly it  connected  by  an  easy  portage.  Antwerp  thus 
stood  directly  between  the  French  and  German  economic 
systems,  being  a  market  for  both,  as  well  as  for  England. 
In  1500,  when  Antwerp  achieved  supremacy,  Charles  V. 
was  born,  who  represented  the  German  interest  all  his 
life.  On  his  accession,  competition  at  once  acquired  the 
intensity  of  war.  The  debt  Charles  contracted  in  war 
was  due  to  German  bankers,  and  was  inherited  by  Spain. 
Spain,  being  poor,  became  insolvent  and  tried  to  levy  on 
Brabant ;  Brabant  revolted,  Alva  laid  the  country  waste, 
Antwerp  was  sacked  and  ruined,  and  England  established 
a  system  of  piracy,  by  which  she  destroyed,  first,  the 
resources  of  Spain,  and,  second,  her  navy,  in  .         .       1588 


APPENDIX  225 

A.D. 

Thereupon,  Holland  and  England  seized  the  ocean 
trade-routes  east  and  west ;  and  modern  development 
began  with  the  germination  of  the  British  economic  sys- 
tem. The  first  phenomenon  was  the  incorporation  of  the 
English  and  Dutch  East  India  Companies. 

Birth  of  Charles  v.,  Emperor  of  Germany  .         .         .       1500 

Wealth  and  power  of  south  Germany  at  its  maximum 
consequent  on  successful  mining     ....      1500-15  50 

Charles  became  King  of  Spain 1516 


Contest  begux  with  Franxe  for  Possession  of  the 
Dominant  Market 

Fuggers  bought  imperial  crown  for  Charles  V.      .      15x7-15x9 

Culmination  of  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  south 
German  bankers,  especially  of  the  Fuggers      .         .      1 525-1 560 

Continuous  wars  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I. 
The  first  sign  of  revolt  in  the  Netherlands  was  the  out- 
break in  Ghent,  consequent  on  overtaxation    .         .       x 539-1540 

Uneasiness  of  Fuggers  and  German  bankers  at  the 
gro^sth  of  debt  and  at  Spanish  methods  of  finance      1 550-1 553 

Desperate  condition  of  the  Spanish  and  German 
finances  and  abdication  of  Charles  ....       1555 

First  Spanish  insolvency      .         .         .         .         .         -1557 

Discontent  in  Netherlands  at  pressure  of  debt     .         .       1559 


SECTION  III 

Outbreak  of  the  beggars  in  Brabant     ....       1566 
Alva  governor  at  Brussels.    Sent  to  extort  a  revenue,  1 567-1 573 
Devastation  of  the  Low  Countries  to  raise  a  revenue  by 
confiscations. 


Migration  of  centre  of  economic  system  consequent 
thereon. 

Q 


226  APPENDIX 

A.D. 

English  Hostility  to  Spain 

Elizabeth  seized  Spanish  treasure        ....       1568 
English  piratical  warfare  on  Spanish  trade-routes  was 

waged  for  a  generation 1560-1588 

Drake's  Panama  expedition  .         .         .         .         .1572 

Mutiny  of  the  Spanish  army  in  the  Netherlands  because 
of  the  lack  of  pay ;  poverty  of  the  government  caused  by 
the  cutting  of  communications  by  the  Dutch  and  English. 
Antwerp  sacked       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .1576 

Spain,  on  the  brink  of  disintegration,  attacked  Eng- 
land. 

Defeat  of  the  Armada 1588 

Rise  of  Holland  and  England  following  the  conquest 
of  the  trade-routes  from  the  Spanish. 

English  East  India  Company  founded  .         .         .       1599 

Dutch  East  India  Company  founded    .         .         .      1595-1602 


CHAPTER   IV 

SECTION  I 

Russia  became  organized  along  the  east  and  west  trade- 
routes  of  the  Kama  and  the  Volga  contemporaneously 
with  the  supremacy  of  Antwerp. 

Charles  VII.  regained  Paris  toward  close  of  One  Hun- 
dred Years'  War 1436 

Migration  of  merchants  from  Bruges  to  Antwerp  .         .       1442 
Collapse  of  Fairs  of  Champagne  ....       1443 

Return  of  Vasco  da  Gama  from  India  .         .         .       1499 

Great  fall   in  price  of  spice  at   Lisbon   and  rise  at 

Venice 1502-1503 

Supremacy  of  Antwerp  and  corresponding  depression 
of  Venice  subsequent  to  League  of  Cambrai    .         .         .       1508 

Eastern  trade  of  Venice  ruined  by  occupation  by  the 
Portuguese  of  island  of  Sokotra  in  the  Gulf  of  Aden     1 506-1 509 


APPENDIX  227 

A.D. 

Rise  of  Moscow 

Ivan  III.  took  title  of  Autocrat  of  Russia     .         .         .       1462 

Ivan  III.  threw  off  Tartar  yoke 1480 

Ivan  III.   seized   tlie    Novgorod    counting-house   and 
ejected  Hanse  merchants        ......       1494 

Ivan  III.  died,  having  extended  Muscovite  influence  to 

Perm 1505 

Organization  of  modern  Russia  under  Ivan  the  Ter- 
rible             ,   .      1533-1584 

Ivan  the  Terrible  took  Astrakhan         ....       1554 
Opened  relations  with  England  through  Chancellor   1553-1554 

Russia  Company  chartered 1555 

Jenkinson's  voyages  and  growth  of  English-Russian 

trade 1557-1572 

Russian  overland  trade  to  Leipsic  and  Berlin  acquired 
importance      ........      1494-1550 

Siberian  Tr.a.de-route 

First  Russian  attack  upon  the  valley  of  the  Obi   .         .       1499 
Yermak  began  his  invasion  of  Siberia  .         .  Sept.  i,  1581 

Tobolsk  founded 1587 

Irkutsk  founded 1651 

Nertchinsk  founded     .......       1654 

At  Nertchinsk  the  road  turned  south  to  Peking  through 
Chinese  territory,  which  could  not  be  conquered.  The 
Pacific  being  closed  until  the  opening  of  Japan  by  the 
United  States,  Nertchinsk  formed  the  natural  terminus 
of  the  overland  Russian  route.     Therefore,  by  the  treaty 

of  Nertchinsk,  signed Aug.  27,  1689 

Russia  abandoned  the  valley  of  the  Amur,  and  stopped 
her  expansion  eastward  for  nearly  two  hundred  years. 

Meanwhile  the  Moscow-Peking  trade  probably  was  as 
valuable  an  asset  as  Russia  possessed.  Route,  Moscow, 
Perm,  Tobolsk,  Irkutsk,  Nertchinsk.  In  Peter  the  Great's 
time  return  caravans  from  IVIoscow  were  "worth  from 
300,000  to  400.000  roubles,  and  in  spite  of  the  great  dis- 
tance the  freight  did  not  amount  to  more  than  five  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  capital."  ^ 

^  Peter  ike  Great,  Schuyler,  II.,  380. 


228  APPENDIX 

A.D. 
SECTION  II 

Contemporaneous  Reorganization  of  Germany 

The  migration  of  the  main  trade-route  from  the  Medi- 
terranean to  the  Atlantic  toward  1500  caused  the  domi- 
nant market  to  seat  itself  on  the  shore  of  the  North  Sea, 
and  also  caused  a  rise  in  energy  of  the  movement  on  the 
east  and  west  lines  of  transit  in  central  and  eastern 
Europe  and  a  proportionate  decline  in  the  north  and 
south. 

The  Hanseatic  League,  which  controlled  the  north  and 
south  lines  of  Germany  and  Poland  and  governed  Sweden, 
lost  power.     Sweden  correspondingly  gained. 

Gustavus  Vasa  came  to  the  throne       .         .         .         .1523 
Defeated  Hanseatic  League  and  emancipated  Sweden 

by  treaty  of  Hamburg 1533 

Strong   development  of  Swedish   iron   industry  from 
treaty  of  Hamburg  to  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus     1 533-1633 

This  rise  in  energy  of  Sweden  decided  the  result  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  which  ended  with  the  consolidation 
of  the  nucleus  of  the  modern  kingdom  of  Prussia. 

Thirty  Years'  War  began     ......       1618 

Gustavus  Adolphus  invaded  Germany  ....       1630 

Victory  of  Lutzen,  death  of  Gustavus  .         .         .         .       1632 

Torstenson,  Swedish  general,  defeated  Austrians  and 

occupied  Bohemia 1644 

Peace  of  Westphalia,  by  which  Frederick  William,  the 
Great  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  gained  Farther  Pomerania 
and  other  advantages,  laying  foundations  of  Prussia         .       1648 

Frederick  William  acquired  Duchy  of  Cleves  and  County 
of  Mark  in  the  iron  region  of  Westphalia         .         .         .       1666 
Prussia  became  a  kingdom  ......       1701 

Seven  Years'  War  and  conquest  of  Silesia  by  Frederick 
the  Great 1763 

Simultaneous  Expansion  West  of  Russia 

Peter  the  Great  conquered  the  Neva  from  Sweden  and 
founded  St.  Petersburg 1703 


APPENDIX  229 

A.D. 

Gained  victory  of  Pultowa  and  conquered  the  Baltic 
Provinces 1709 

SECTION   III 

Therefore  from  the  outbreak  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
in  1 61 8  to  the  end  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  in  1763  a 
steady  consolidation  of  Russia  and  Prussia  had  gone  on, 
by  which  Poland  had  been  hemmed  in  between  the  east 
and  west  divisions  of  the  overland  economic  system. 

Poland 

Poland  originally  developed  along  the  trade-route  north 
from  the  valley  of  the  Danube  to  the  Baltic.  The  early 
road  to  Constantinople  from  the  west  lay  through  Vienna, 
Gran,  Belgrad,  and  Adrianople.  This  was  the  crusading 
route  until  the  thirteenth  century.  Trade  crossing  north 
from  the  Danube  to  the  valley  of  the  Vistula,  and  so  to 
the  Baltic,  centred  at  Cracow,  on  the  upper  Vistula,  as 
the  local  market,  and  accordingly  Cracow  became  a 
capital.      The  kings  of  Poland  were  buried  in  Cracow 

Cathedral  from 1 163-1733 

Cracow  flourished  under  Casimir  III.   •         .         .      1333-1370 
University  established  ......       1364 

Member  of  Hanseatic  League 1430 

Highest   prosperity   and  fame   reached  under   Sigis- 

mund  I. 1 506-1 548 

Copernicus  buried  at  Cracow        .....       1543 
This  period  of  prosperity  is  coincident  with  the  highest 
prosperity  of  Augsburg  and  the  Fuggers. 
The  Fuggers  reached  their  prime  with  Anthony  Fugger 

1525-1560 
The  development  of  the  Hungarian  and  Bohemian 
minerals  caused  both  phenomena.  The  Fuggers  acquired 
large  copper  properties  in  Neusohl  near  Gran  ;  in  connec- 
tion with  powerful  Hungarian  families,  they  formed  a  syn- 
dicate for  controlling  the  market,  and  shipped  copper  by 
Cracow  and  the  Vistula  to  Dantzic  and  Antwerp,  instead 


230  APPENDIX 


A.D. 


of,  as  before,  to  Venice.     Cracow  and  Antwerp  became 

great  metal  markets  from         ......       1494 

Change  of  the  Axis  of  European  Movement 
IN  Sixteenth  Century 

The  change  in  the  axis  of  European  movement  from 
north  and  south  to  east  and  west  during  the  sixteenth 
century  is  clearly  indicated  by  the  following  series  of 
events : — 

DestiTiction  of  the  Hanseatic  House  at  Novgorod         .       1494 
Rise  of  Leipsic  Fairs  indicated  by  grants  of  privileges 

by  Maximilian 1497- 1507 

Defeat  of  Hanse  by  Sweden  and  treaty  of  Hamburg    .       1533 
Diversion  of  fur  trade  to  Leipsic  admitted  by  Hanse     1 549-1 554 

Abdication  of  Charles  V .       1555 

Abdication  of  Charles  immediately  followed  by  Spanish 
bankruptcy,  and  by  the  first  shock  to  Fuggers'  credit     1557-1562 

The  power  of  the  current  east  and  west  is  shown  by 
the  union  of  Lithuania  and  Poland  and  establishment  of 

joint  diets  at  Warsaw       . 1569 

Thenceforward  south  Germany  rapidly  declined. 
The  Nuremberg  Welsers  left  business  about         .         .       1566 
The  Augsberg  Welsers  were  sinking  by        .         .         .       1590 
The  capital  of  Poland  moved  north  from  Cracow  to 
Warsaw  in       ........         .       1609 

The  Fuggers  weakened  steadUy  under  the  burden  of 
the  debt  of  upwards  of  5,000,000  ducats  owing  them  by 
Spain  after      .........       1610 

Correspondingly  London,  Amsterdam,  Berlin,  Warsaw, 
and  St.  Petersburg  rose. 

SECTION   IV 
Disintegration  of  Poland 

Incorporation  of  Lithuania  with  Poland.  Process  began 
by  accession  to  the  throne  of  Poland  of  Alexander,  Duke 
of  Lithuania,  in      .......         .       1501 

Consolidation  completed  and  diets  of  Poland  and 
Lithuania  held  at  Warsaw 1569 


APPENDIX  231 

A.D. 

Sigismund  moved  the  royal  residence  to  Warsaw         .       1609 

This  movement  was  coincident  with  Thirty  Years'  War 
and  the  consolidation  of  North  Germany. 

Thirty  Years'  War  begun  by  Count  von  Thurn  in 
Bohemia 1618 

Continued  consolidation  of  North  Germany  produced 
the  Seven  Years' War 1756-1763 

Efforts  of  France,  Russia,  and  Austria  having  failed 
to  check  the  consolidation  of  North  Germany  in  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  the  process  continued  by  the  absorption  of 
Poland.     Partitions 1 775-1 795 

As  finally  settled  in  181 5,  the  upper  Vistula,  with 
Cracow,  adhered  to  the  Danubian  system  ;  the  central 
Vistula,  with  Warsaw,  to  the  Russian  ;  the  lower  Vistula, 
with  Dantzic,  to  the  German. 

Complete  economic  isolation  of  France,  caused  by  the 
junction  of  Prussia  and  Russia  and  the  dismemberment 
of  Poland.     Outbreak  of  Revolution        ....       1789 

Period  of  destruction  of  mediaeval  social  system  .      1 789-1 795 
Bonaparte  First  Consul  .......       1799 

Napoleonic  wars  began  with  Marengo     .         .         June  14,  1800 

CHAPTER  V 
SECTION  I 

France  from  her  geographical  position  is  isolated.  She 
forms  no  part  of  the  overland  system,  and  her  long  wars 
with  Holland  and  England,  from  1672  to  1815,  were  all 
caused  by  her  attempt  to  conquer  the  ocean  trade-routes 
between  China,  India,  and  America. 

After  the  sack  of  Antwerp  Amsterdam  became  the  chief 
market  of  northern  Europe,  about  .         .         .         .       1 610 

The  profits  of  her  trade  may  be  computed  by  the  profits 
of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company. 

The  average  dividends  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Com- 
pany were  25  to  30  per  cent  between       .         .         .       1606-1661 

Par  value  of  shares  was  3000  florins ;  market  value, 
18,000  florins. 


232  APPENDIX 


The  Dutch  East  India  Company  owned  150  merchant 
ships,  40  to  50  war-ships,  had  an  army  of  10,000  men, 

and  divided  40  per  cent  in 1670 

Contemporaneously  in  1671  the  French  company 
showed   a   deficit   of  6,000,000   livres. 

On  the  death  of  Mazarin,  Colbert  became  minister  of 
finance   and  addressed  himself  to   building  up   French 

industries 1661 

Colbert  attempted  economic  reforms  in        .         .         .       1664 

And  failed 1 664-1 667 

Abandoning  his  attempt  to  reform  internal  tariffs,  he 
resorted  to  a  prohibitive  tariff  against  Holland        .         .       1667 

This  proved  ineffective,  while  the  great  prosperity  of 
Dutch  shipping  and  the  wealth  of  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company  inclined  Colbert  to  war    .         .         .         .         .1671 

According  to  Colbert  at  this  time,  "  of  20,000  ships 
doing  the  commerce  of  the  world,  the  Dutch  owned 
15,000  or   16,000,  the  French  500  or  600  at  most," 

Colbert  had  the  alternative  presented  to  him  of 
abandoning  his  industrial  system,  and  with  it  his  office, 
or  of  crushing  the  Dutch.     He  chose  war. 

Dutch  war 1 672-1 678 

Defeat  of  France  and  treaty  of  Nimwegen  .         .         .       1678 
Revolution  in  England         ......       1688 

Coalition  against  France  formed  by  William  III.,  which 
lasted  substantially  till  treaty  of  Utrecht  .         .         .      1689-17 13 

SECTION  II 

The  French  wars  proving  unsuccessful,  competition 
continued  unchecked,  and,  being  undersold,  the  French 
industries  fell  into  decline.  The  period  of  splendor  of 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  ended  with  the  Revolution  of 
1688  in  England. 
Complete  industrial  prostration  in  France  from  .  1700-1715 
After  a  short  industrial  revival  during  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  introduction  of  coal  in  smelting  in 
England,  which  gave  England  the  supremacy  in  steel, 
put  France  at  a  further  disadvantage  after        .         .         .       1770 


APPENDIX 


233 


The  progress  of  France  toward  insolvency  ended  in 

the  Revolution  in 1789 

The  Terror 1793 

Bonaparte  pacified  the  sections  at  Saint  Roch      .  Oct.  5,  1795 

Napoleon  Consul         ^ 1799 

Peace  of  Amiens 1802 

But  the  equilibrium  proved  to  be  unstable. 
The  impossibility  of  successful  competition  by  France 
led  to  attack  on  English  trade-routes.     War  renewed       .       1803 

As  a  means  to  victory  the  French  made  their  army 
absolute. 

Napoleon  Emperor May  18,  1804 


SECTION  III 
Wars  for  Control  of  Ocean  Trade-routes 


Trafalgar     . 
Jena    . 
Berlin  Decree 
Eylau 

Friedland    . 
Russia  capitulated  to  Napoleon 
signed 


Oct.  21,  1805 
Oct.  14,  1806 
Nov.  21,  1806 
Feb.  8,  1807 
June  14,  1807 
convention  of  Tilsit 

July  7,  1807 


Napoleon  began  the  encouragement  of  the  beet  sugar 
industry  as  a  war  measure  to  destroy  the  English  colonies  ^       1 808 

Intolerable  distress  of  Russia  from  loss  of  outlets  of 
trade 1808-1810 

Ukase  admitting  American  ships  into  Russian  ports, 

Dec.  19,  1810 

Napoleon  adopted  policy  of  state  encouragement  for 
sugar 181 1 


War  with  Russia June  22,  18 12 

Napoleon  crossed  the  Niemen     .         .         .         June  24,  18 12 
Retreat  from  Moscow  began        .        .         .  Oct.  18,  18 12 

Waterloo June  18,  1815 

English  economic  supremacy       ....      18 15-1873 

^The  sugar  question  is  not  treated  in  this  volume.     For  its  history 
see  America's  Economic  Supremacy,  54  et  seq. 


234  APPENDIX 

A.D. 

Poverty  of  the  United  States  until       ....       1848 

Discovery  of  gold  in  California 1847 

Rapid  development  of  the  United  States  after  the  dis- 
covery of  gold         .......      I 848-1 860 

Huge  indebtedness  of  the  United  States,  contracted  for 

internal  improvements 1 865-1 894 

Continuous  attack  of  the  Continent  on  the  West  Indian 
sugar ;  control  of  the  English  market  obtained  by  Conti- 
nental sugar  in         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .1871 

Fall  in  the  price  of  sugar  ruined  the  West  Indies        1 868-1893 
First  insurrection  in  Cuba  began  ....       1868 

Demonetization  of  silver  by  Germany  .         .         .       1873 

Fall  in  prices  from 1873  to  1896 

English  farming  land  began  to  lose  its  value  from        .       1879 

Panic  of 1893 

Unprecedented  exportation  of  gold  from  the  United 

States 1893 

Fall  of  30  per  cent  in  the  price  of  sugar      .         .      1 893-1 895 
Second  Cuban  insurrection. 

Signs  of  exhaustion  in  English  minerals  became  pro- 
nounced toward       ........       1890 

Readjustment  of  American  social  system  toward  Euro- 
pean competition,  by  organization  of  so-called  trusts,    1 893-1 897 


CHAPTER  VI 
SECTION   I 

Rise  of  Japan 

Japan  closed  to  foreigners 1623 

Gold  discovered  in  California 1847 

California  ceded  by  Mexico  to  United  States        .         .       1848 
Perry  sailed  from  Norfolk  for  Japan     .         .         Nov.  24,  1852 

Perry  reached  Yeddo July  8,  1853 

Perry  signed  first  convention  with  Mikado  .         Mch.  31,  1854 
Reorganization  of  Japan  began  with  American  com- 
mercial treaty 1858 


APPENDIX  235 

A.D. 

Stimulated  by  the  opening  of  Japan,  Russia  expanded 
along  the  trade-route  of  the  Amur.  Muravioff  negotiated 
the  treaty  with  China  which  made  the  left  bank  of  the 
Amur  the  Russian  boundary,  and  opened  the  river  to 
Russian  ships  to  its  mouth      ....  May  16,  1858 

Muravioff  founded  Vladivostok  on  the  Pacific      .         .       i860 

Fall  of  the  Shogun 1868 

War  between  Japan  and  China    ....      1894-1895 
Interference    of   France,    Germany,  and   Russia  with 
terms  of  peace;  Japanese  forced  to  give  up  Port  Arthur       1895 

SECTION  II 

American  Supremacy 

American  supremacy  in  steel  ....  Mar.,  1897 
Germans  seized  Kaiochau  .....  Nov.,  1897 
Russia  occupied  Port  Arthur         ....     Dec,  1897 

Hostilities  between  Spain  and  Cuba  continued  without 
definite  result,  Spanish  ojjinion  becoming  steadily  in- 
flamed against  the  United  States,  until  the  destruction 
of  the  Maine  in  Havana  harbor       .         .         .  Feb.  15,  1898 

The  destruction  of  the  MaiJie  was  thus  a  direct  effect 
of  the  attack  by  the  Overland  Economic  System  on  the 
English  Economic  System  through  the  sugar  bounties 
which  ruined  the  West  Indies  and  caused  the  Cuban 
insurrection.^  The  sugar  bounties  were  a  continuance 
of  Napoleon's  Continental  policy.  The  catastrophe  of 
the  Maine  made  war  between  Spain  and  the  United 
States  inevitable.  The  disintegration  of  the  Spanish 
Empire  followed.     Battle  of  Manila       .         .         .  May  i,  1898 

Meanwhile  the  British  acquired  Wei-hai-wei         .     April,  1898 

In  consequence  of  the  aggressions  of  Germany  and 
Russia  insurrection  broke  out  in  China  in        .         .      June,  1900 

Baron  von  Ketteler  killed  and  legations  attacked, 

June  20,  1900 

Circular  note  of  the  State  Department  .         .  July  3,  1900 

1  See  Americans  Economic  Supremacy,  chapter  III. 


236  APPENDIX 

A.D. 

The  European  commanders  in  a  council  of  war  decided 
that  80,000   men  would  be  needed  before  an  advance 
could  be  made  on  Peking.     Despatch  to  this  effect  sent  to 
Washington  by  Admiral  Kempff     ....  July  8,  1900 

Tientsin  captured  by  the  energy  of  the  Japanese,  who 
blew  open  the  south  gate.     Allies  entered  the  city    July  14,  1900 
General  Chaffee  reached  Tientsin         .         .  July  30,  1900 

Conference  of  generals  held  on  General  Chaffee's  arrival 
decided  on  an  immediate  advance    .         .         .  Aug.  i,  190G 

Advance  begun,  the  column  about  19,000  strong,  Aug.  4,  1900 
Peking  occupied  ......        Aug.  14,  1900 

Field   Marshal   von  Waldersee,   in   command  of   the 
German  contingent,  reached  Peking         .         .        Oct.  17,  1900 


INDEX 


Aden :  71. 

Alexander :  campaigns  of,  37,  38 ; 
money  of,  39 ;  empire  of,  166,  167. 

Alva  :  sent  to  Brussels,  104 ;  govern- 
ment of  Netherlands,  105  ;  ferocity 
of,  106;  remittance  to,  confiscated 
by  Elizabeth,  108  ;  recalled,  109. 

America  :  trade-routes  of,  167  ;  com- 
parison with  England  before  i860, 
168  ;  gold  discovered,  171 ;  impul- 
sion received  from,  171 ;  railroad 
system  of,  172;  panic  of  1893,  175; 
trusts  of,  175 ;  effect  of  competi- 
tion of,  177  et  seq.  ;  expands  into 
Asia,  192 ;  Chinese  policy,  193, 
194;  superiority  of  engineers  of, 
201 ;  supremacy  of,  208 ;  empire 
of,  209. 

Amsterdam  :  prosperity  of,  150. 

Antwerp  :  prosperity  of,  91 ;  threat- 
ened by  mutiny,  no;  Fuggers' 
advances  to  protect,  no;  sack  of, 
hi;  migration  of  merchants  to, 
120;  culmination  of,  120. 

Armada  :  113. 

Asia,  central :  cities  of,  70 ;  part  of 
old  economic  system,  74 ;  wealth 
of,  74;  decay  of,  74;  destruction 
of,  by  Mongols,  79  et  seq.;  see 
Trade-routes. 

Athens  :  colonizes  Miletus,  21,  22 ; 
hostility  to  Corinth,  35;  decay  of, 
36;  mines  of  Laurium,  see  Afin- 
erals. 

Augsburg:  south  Germany  trade- 
routes  converge  at,  52 ;  walled,  52  ; 
a  mining  centre,  55 ;  home  of  the 
Fuggers,  56;  copper  interests  of, 
57  ;  financial  capital  of  south  Ger- 
many, 98. 


B 

Babylon :    economic    system    of,   5 ; 

trade-routes  of,  11 ;  taken  by  Per- 
sians, 30. 
Bactra :   10 ;    routes    converging  at, 

II.    See  BalHA. 
Bagdad:  decline  of  caliphs  of,  71; 

taken  by  Jenghiz  Khan,  82. 
Balkh  :  taken  by  Jenghiz  Khan,  81 ; 

trade  of,  124.     See  Bactra. 
Baniian:    taken   by  Jenghiz   Khan, 

81. 
Bank  of  England  :  founded,  133. 
Bapaume  :  custom-house,  95,  Note. 
Berlin :    trade-routes    of,    140,    146 ; 

rise  of,  140,  147. 
Betlis :  description  of,  18. 
Bokhara  :    taken  by  Jenghiz  Khan, 

79;  visited  by  Jenkinson,  88,  124. 
Brandenburg :  see  Prussia. 
Brenner :  58. 
Bruges :  rise  of,  53 ;  base  of  Hanse, 

73 ;  importance  of,  93 ;  decline  of, 

119. 
Byzantine  Empire  :  prosperity  of,  60 ; 

decay  of,  61. 


Cairo:  founded,  72;  walled,  72; 
architecture  of,  72 ;  capture  of,  by 
Turks,  85 ;  importance  of,  86. 

Canals  :   Oise-Scheldt,  94 ;  Russian, 

143- 
Caravan  routes  :  Ur,  7 ;  from  Kash- 
gar  and  Yarkand  to  India,  9  ; 
through  S>T-Daria  valley,  9 ;  firom 
Bactra  to  Mediterranean,  11 ;  India 
to  Egj'pt,  II ;  from  Trebizond  to 
Samarkand,  24,  27  et  seq.  See 
Trade-routes. 


237 


238 


INDEX 


Carthaginians :  invade  Sicily,  34 ; 
expelled  from  Spain,  42. 

Central  Asia  :  see  Asia, 

Ceylon  :  voyage  to,  71. 

Cha?npagne :  Fairs  of,  61 ;  tolls,  68 ; 
towns  vt'here  held,  94;  decline  of 
Fairs  of,  96;  yield  of  Fairs,  119; 
extinction  of  Fairs  of,  119. 

Chancellor,  Richard:  voyages,  121, 
122. 

Charlemagne  :  empire  of,  47,  48. 

Charles  V. :  description  of,  92 ;  buys 
election,  98 ;  revenues  of,  99 ;  paci- 
fies Ghent,  100 ;  abdication  of,  loi ; 
debts  left  by,  103. 

Charles  XII.  :  see  Sweden. 

Cheops  :  pyramid  of,  6, 

Chi7ia :  minerals  of,  189 ;  war  with 
Japan,  190,  191 ;  revolt  in,  192  ei 
seq. 

Clavijo,  Ruy  Gonzalez  de :  embassy 
of,  24;  journey  of,  27,  28,  29. 

Clough,  Richard :  describes  Antwerp, 
105. 

Colbert:  sketch  of,  152;  industrial 
policy  of,  154 ;  failure  of  policy  of, 
155;  hostile  to  Dutch,  156,  157; 
makes  war  on  Holland,  158;  fall 
of,  159. 

Cologne:  trade  of,  52;  Guild  Hall  in 
London,  53 ;  base  of  Hanse,  73. 

Commercial  exchanges :  see  £x- 
changes. 

Compass :  mariner's,  71. 

Constantinople:  splendor  of,  60;  de- 
cay of,  61 ;  sack  of,  75. 

Copper :  see  Minerals. 

Corea :  see  Korea. 

Corinth  :  colonized  Magna  Graecia, 
23 ;  routes  converging  at,  31 ;  tem- 
ple of,  31;  rise  of,  32;  hostility  to 
Athens,  36. 

Courtrai  :  battle  of,  96. 

Cracow :  taken  by  Mongols,  83  ; 
trade-routes  of,  147 ;  decay  of,  147. 

Crete :  excavations  in,  13 ;  opulence 
of,  13. 

Crimea  :  annexation  of,  136, 

Crown  of  Thorns :  bought  by  Saint 
Louis,  76. 


D 

Dampierre,  Guy  of :  95,  96. 

Dandolo,  Henry:  sacks  Constanti- 
nople, 75. 

Dantzic :  acquired  by  Teutonic  Or- 
der, 65. 

Darius  :  wars  of,  33. 

Denmark :  position  of,  62 ;  trade- 
route  across,  62 ;  war  with  Hanse, 
66. 

Dijon  :  river  system  of,  94. 

Dnieper :  trade-route  of,  60 ;  change 
of  route  to  Volga,  63.  See  Trade- 
routes. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis :  expeditions  of, 
107;  victory  off  Calais,  113.  See 
Piracy. 

Ducats :  value  of,  89. 

E 

Eastern  Question  :  194. 

Economic  systems:  Babylonian,  5; 
Ur,  7;  Greek,  34;  German,  46, 
146 ;  French,  46,  94 ;  old  and  new, 
74;  Flemish,  94;  British,  114;  for- 
mation of  modern,  133;  Russian 
and  German,  146,  147 ;  Colbert's 
attack  on  oceanic,  155;  Napole- 
on's attack  on  English,  162;  Na- 
poleon's attack  on  overland,  163 ; 
Germany's  attack  on  oceanic,  170; 
America's  attack  on  overland,  175  ; 
American-Japanese  attack  on  over- 
land, 189.     See  Trade-routes. 

Egypt :  gold  and  copper  of,  s  ;  archi- 
tecture of,  6;  trade  with  Chris- 
tians, 54 ;  splendor  under  Saladin, 

73- 

Elbe  :  defence  of,  53 ;  trade-route  of, 
59 ;  tolls  on,  68. 

England:  prospers  by  Dutch  War, 
107;  industrial  revolution,  115;  su- 
premacy of,  115;  trade-routes  of, 
134 ;  Napoleonic  wars,  162 ;  gjreat- 
ness  of,  after  Waterloo,  167 ;  su- 
perior water  transportation,  168 ; 
wealth  of,  169 ;  fall  in  value  of  land, 
in,  173  ;  freights  between  Liverpool 
and  New  York,  173 ;  loss  of  agricul- 
ture, 174;  exhaustion  of  mines  of, 


INDEX 


239 


176 ;  weakness  of,  during  Boer 
War,  177 ;  adverse  exchanges  of, 
178, 179  ;  seizes  Wei-hai-Wei,  192 ; 
in  1850,  202 ;  lassitude  of,  206,  207. 

Erzgebiige  :  50.     See  Minerals. 

Europe :  geography  of,  45,  46 ;  pov- 
erty of  in  minerals,  87. 

Exchanges  :  East  and  West,  7 ;  Sar- 
gon,  Assyrian,  Babylonian,  12; 
ancient,  between  East  and  West, 
40;  Roman,  42;  American  ad- 
verse, 175 :  English  adverse,  174, 
179. 

F 

Fairs  of  Champagne :  see  Cham- 
pagne. 

Flanders :  ocean  trade  to  Venice,  69 ; 
rivers  of,  93 ;  commercial  interests 
of,  94 ;  fief  of  France,  95 ;  attacked 
by  France,  96;  effect  of  war  in, 
97;  mutiny  of  troops  in,  107,  109; 
packet  service  to  Venice,  119;  de- 
cline of,  119. 

Fletcher,  Giles  :  Russian  experiences, 
126,  127,  180, 183. 

Fondaco  dei  Tedeschi  :  54. 

Fouquet :  153. 

France  :  rivers  of,  94 ;  centralization 
of,  95  ;  war  with  Flanders,  96 ;  intel- 
lectual rigidity  of,  149 ;  splendor  of, 
under  Louis  XIV.,  150;  economic 
weakness  of,  151;  internal  tariffs 
of,  152 ;  competition  with  Holland, 
156;  defeated  by  Holland,  159; 
Revolution,  160 ;  war  with  England 
and  Russia,  162  e(  seq. ;  decline  of, 
116,  202. 

Freights:  road  and  river,  95,  note; 
sea  to  England,  173. 

Fuggers :  Hans,  56;  Jacob  II., 56;  his- 
tory of,  56  et  seq.;  copper  mines 
of,  57 ;  assets  of,  in  1527,  57 ;  loans 
to  Charles  for  election,  99 ;  Anthony 
hates  Erasso,  loi ;  advances  to 
Philip  in  1556,  103;  in  1575,  no; 
losses  at  sack  of  Antwerp,  in; 
dealings  with  Philip  about  Antwerp, 
109,  in;  decay  of,  112. 

Fur :  see  Leipsic,  and  Novgorod, 
and  Champagne. 


Germany :  geography  of,  46;  silver 
mines  of,  49,  50 ;  manufactures  of, 
54;  police  of  roads  in,  68  ;  bankers 
of,  97,  98 ;  readjustment  of,  in  17th 
century,  138,  145;  depression  in, 
179  ;  seizes  Kaiochau,  191 ;  designs 
of,  on  Shansi,  192  ;  critical  position 
of,  201.  See  Minerals  and  Trade- 
routes. 

Ghent :  importance  of,  93 ;  revolt  of, 
100. 

Gold :  see  Alinerals. 

Goslar  :  50. 

Gran  :  capture  of,  83. 

Great  Britain  :  see  England. 

Greece  :  rise  of,  31 ;  Mycenean  Age, 
31;  diverging  trade-routes  of,  35; 
currency  of,  39. 

Greeks  :  attack  Troy,  20 ;  legends  of, 
21  i  colonization  of  Euxine  by,  22 ; 
of  Magna  Graecia,  23. 

Gresham,  Sir  Thomas  :  coins  Spanish 
silver,  108 ;  advises  borrowing  in 
England,  113. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  :  137,  138. 

Gustavus  Vasa  :  137. 

H 

Hamburg :  relation  with  Liibeck,  62 ; 
base  of  Hanse,  73 ;  port  for  Russia, 
140.     See  Trade-routes. 

Hainmurabi :  12. 

Hanseatic  League  :  53 ;  foundation 
of,  65  ;  scope  of,  66 ;  war  with  Den- 
mark, 66 ;  counter  of,  at  Novgorod, 
67 ;  monopoly  of,  in  Russia,  67 ; 
trade-routes  of,  66,  73 ;  power  of, 
136;  in  Sweden,  137;  defeat  of, 
by  Gustavus  Vasa,  137. 

Haroun-al-Rashid  :  70. 

Harz  :  49,  50,  51. 

Henry  the  Fuwler  :  50. 

Herat:  taken  by  Jenghiz  Khan,  80. 

Himera :  34. 

History  :  scientific,  195  et  seq. 

Holland:  independence  of,  150;  war 
with  France,  157,  158,  159. 

Hungarians :  defeated  by  Mongols, 
83- 


240 


INDEX 


I 

Ides,  Evert  Isbrand :  mission  of,  134. 

Innocent  III. :  crusade  against  Li- 
vonia, 65. 

Iron :  see  Minerals. 

Ivan  III. :  121 ;  threw  off  Tartar 
yoke,  121 ;  took  title  of  autocrat, 
121 ;  conquests  of,  121 ;  imported 
foreigners,  128  ;  Novgorod,  139. 

Ivan  the  Terrible  :  reign  begins,  121; 
opened  communication  witli  Eng- 
land, 122;  cruelty  of,  126;  con- 
quered Siberia,  131. 


Jade  Axes :  imported  into  Europe,  i. 

"Japan :  opening  of,  186,  187,  188  ; 
war  with  China,  190,  191 ;  antago- 
nism to  Russia,  195;  energy  of, 
202,  205. 

Jenghiz  Khan  :  birth  of,  77 ;  invades 
China,  78 ;  takes  Kashgar,  78 ; 
spies  arrested  at  Otrar,  78 ;  takes 
Otrar,  79 ;  takes  Bokhara,  79 ; 
takes  Samarkand,  79 ;  takes  Merv, 
80;  Nishapur,  80;  Herat,  80; 
Balkh,  81 ;  Bamian,  81 ;  Bagdad, 
82. 

Jenkinson  :  sold  no  cloth  in  Bokhara, 
88 ;  voyages  of,  122-125. 

K 

Kashgar :  trade-routes  of,  9 ;  taken 
by  Jenghiz  Khan,  78. 

Kieff :  splendor  of,  60,  62,  117;  de- 
cay of,  63 ;  capital  of  Russia,  64 ; 
captured  by  Mongols,  82. 

Korea :  invaded  by  Japanese,  190 ; 
strategic  importance  of,  195. 


Laurium :  mines  of,  35 ;  exhaustion 
of,  36. 

Leipsic  :  gains  fur  trade,  139 ;  trade- 
route,  Russia  and  Leipsic,  139 ; 
fairs  of,  140. 

Liegnitz  :  battle  of,  82. 

Lisbon  :  prosperity  of,  90. 


Livonia:    conquered,  65;    cities  of, 

lose  fur  trade,  139;  conquered  by 

Peter  the  Great,  142. 
Louis  IX. :  buys  Crown  of  Thorns, 

76 ;  invades  Egypt,  76 ;  surrenders, 

76 ;  crusade  of,  86. 
Lilbeck :  founding  of,  58 ;   trade  of, 

59;    relation  with    Hamburg,   62; 

base  of  Hanse,  73. 
Lydia  :  gold  of,  15. 

M 

Macedon  :  gold  mines  of,  36. 

Maghara :  conquest  of,  by  Sneferu, 
4;  copper  mines  in,  5. 

Magna  GrcBcia  :  colonization  of,  23. 

Maitte  :  destruction  of,  192. 

Marco  Polo :  route  of,  10. 

Alarienburg :  65. 

Maximilian :  poverty  of,  98 ;  re- 
proves Charles,  98. 

Merv :  taken  by  Jenghiz  Khan,  80. 

Metals  :  see  Minerals. 

Miletus:  founding  of,  22;  colonies 
founded  by,  22 ;  port  of  Sardis,  23. 

Minerals :  importance  of,  3 ;  Egyp- 
tian, 4,  5 ;  Maghara  copper,  4,  5 ; 
Nubian  gold  and  iron,  5 ;  Cornish 
tin,  14;  supply  of  in  antiquity,  14; 
Lydian  gold,  15;  Athenian  silver, 
35 ;  influence  of  on  Greek  civiliza- 
tion, 35  ;  Macedonian,  36 ;  Roman, 
40 ;  ^gean,  41 ;  German  silver, 
49 ;  silver  and  copper  of  Bohemia 
and  Harz,  50;  Erzgebirge,  51; 
copper  exported  from  Venice,  54; 
base  of  German  mediaeval  wealth, 
55 ;  South  German  investment  in, 
55 ;  Fuggers'  speculation  in,  57 ; 
Hungarian  copper,  57;  effect  of, 
on  mediaeval  exchange,  64 ;  pov- 
erty of  Europe  in  precious,  87; 
Mexican,  92;  Potosi,92;  Hungari- 
an, Bohemian,  and  Tyrolese  mines 
in  1500,  97 ;  Drake's  robberies  of 
Spanish,  107 ;  Swedish  iron,  137, 
138  ;  Rhenish  iron,  145  ;  England's 
monopoly  of,  in  coal  and  iron,  167  ; 
American  gold  and  silver,  170, 171 ; 
decline  of  English,  176;   Califor- 


INDEX 


241 


nian  gold,  187;  Chinese,  189; 
effect  of,  on  Eastern  Question,  191 ; 
American  supremacy  in  steel,  191 ; 
South  African,  207. 

Mines :  see  Afinerals. 

Aloney  :  see  Numismatics. 

Mongols  :  rise  of,  77 ;  invade  Russia, 
82 ;  capture  Kieff,  82 ;  Cracow,  83 ; 
defeat  Hungarians,  83 ;  reach  Scu- 
tari, 83;  limits  of  invasion  of,  83, 
84;  trade-routes  of,  118. 

Moravieff :  founds  Vladivostok,  133. 

Moscow :  size  in  1590,  127.  See 
Trade-routes, 

N 

Napoleon  :  competes  with  England, 
161 ;  Jena  campaign,  162 ;  conti- 
nental policy  of,  163 ;  treaty  with 
Persia,  163 ;  intention  to  attack 
India,  163;  attacks  Russia,  164, 
165  ;  Moscow  campaign,  166. 

Nearchus  :  voyage  of,  8. 

Nertchinsk :  fortification  of,  132 ; 
road  to  Peking,  133 ;  treat)-  of,  133. 

Netherlands  :  Philip  inherits,  loi ; 
religion  of,  loi ;  emigration  from, 
105. 

Nineveh  :  founded,  12 ;  perished,  12 ; 
economic  system  of,  16,  17 ;  trade- 
routes  of,  17,  18;  fall  of,  30. 

Nishapur :  taken  by  Jenghiz  Khan, 
80. 

Novgorod :  59 ;  position  of,  60 ;  mer- 
chants of,  in  valley  of  Petchora 
and  Obi,  64 ;  counter  of  Hanseatic 
League  at,  67;  Ivan  III.  takes, 
139;  loses  fur  trade,  139. 

Numismatics :  Greek,  39 ;  German 
coins  found  in  Wisby,  53 ;  depre- 
ciation of  French  and  English  coin- 
age, 88  ;  ducat,  value  of,  89. 

Nuremberg :  rise  of,  52 ;  manufac- 
turers of,  55  ;  famous  bankers  of, 
55  ;  financial  capital,  98, 

O 

Oise :  trade-route,  94 ;  see  footnote, 
94- 


Orange,  William  of:  league  against 

France  formed  by,  160. 
Orenburg :  founded,  135. 
Otho  I. :  50,  51. 
Otho  III. :  coinage  of,  53. 
Otrar :  capture  of,  79. 


PanticapcBum :  founded,  22 ;  gold 
ornaments  of,  22. 

Paris  :  river  system  of,  94. 

Pattala  :  trade-route  to  Egypt  from,  8. 

Peking:  Russian  route  to,  133;  oc- 
cupied by  allies,  194. 

Peloponnesian  War  :  36. 

Perry,  Commodore;  visits  Japan, 
187. 

Persians :  decrepitude  of,  81. 

Peter  the  Great :  accedes,  133 ;  con- 
ditions at  accession  of,  133 ;  an- 
nexes S\T-Daria,  135 ;  Pultowa, 
142;  founds  St.  Petersburg,  143; 
canals,  143 ;  visits  Caspian,  143 ; 
reforms  of,  143,  144. 

Philip  of  Spain :  accession  of,  loi ; 
insolvency  of,  103. 

Philippi :  mines  of,  36. 

Philip  the  Fair :  accession  of,  95 ; 
war  in  Flanders,  96 ;  defeat  at 
Courtrai,  96 ;  effect  of  war,  97. 

Phocas,  Nicephorus  :  72. 

Phcenicians :  rise  of,  14;  discover 
tin,  14. 

Piracy  :  English,  against  Spain,  108. 

Platcea  :  battle  of,  35. 

Poland :  geography  of,  47 ;  partition 
of,  146, 147 ;  change  of  trade-routes 
of,  147- 

Potosi :  mines  of,  92. 

Prussia  :  rise  of,  138  ;  trade-routes  of, 
138,  139;  gains  Pomerania,  145; 
foundation  of,  145;  gains  Cleves 
and  Mark,  145 ;  Silesia,  146 ;  East 
and  West  trade-routes  of,  146. 

Pultowa  :  142. 


Quedlinburg :  50,  51 . 


242 


INDEX 


Rammelsberg :  49,  50. 

Rhine :  trade-route  of,  59 ;  tolls  on, 
68. 

Riga :  founded,  65. 

Romans :  incapacity  of,  40 ;  defeat 
of,  in  Germany,  43 ;  mental  inflexi- 
bility of,  44. 

Russia  :  geography  of,  47 ;  Constan- 
tinople dominant  market  of,  63 ; 
Kieff  and  Vladimir  capitals  of, 
64;  Hanse  holds  monopoly  in,  67; 
Mongols  invade,  82 ;  rivers  of,  116 ; 
disintegration  of,  in  13th  century, 
117;  Ivan  occupied  Narva,  128; 
trade-routes  under  Peter,  133,  134; 
consolidation  of,  under  Peter,  135 ; 
Swedish  war,  142;  administration 
of,  under  Peter,  144;  breach  with 
France,  165;  poverty  of,  180,  181; 
bad  administration  in,  181  et  seq.; 
suffering  in,  183;  civil  service  of, 
183;  Siberian  Railroad,  184;  hos- 
tility to  Japan,  i85;  interferes  in 
Chinese  war,  191 ;  seizes  Port 
Arthur,  192;  designs  on  Shansi, 
192 ;  weakness  of,  193 ;  antago- 
nism to  Japan,  195 ;  culmination 
of,  199.     See  Trade-routes. 

Russia  Company :  122  ;  counting- 
houses  of,  125,  126. 

Russians  :  backwardness  of,  128  ;  not 
mechanical,  129. 

S 

Saladin :  73. 

Salamis  :  34, 

Samarkand :  description  of,  29 ; 
taken  by  Jenghiz  Khan,  79;  see 
Trade-routes. 

Sarai :  built,  118. 

Sardis  :  routes  to,  15. 

Sargon :  empire  of,  7 ;  capital  of,  12. 

Scheldt:  trade-route,  94 ;  and  note. 

Scutari:  Mongols  reach,  83. 

Septimer  Pass  :  59. 

Shansi  :  mines  of,  189. 

Siberia :  conquest  of,  131-133 ;  trade- 
routes  of,  131,  133;  rivers  of,  132; 
Siberian  Railroad,  184,  185. 


Silver:  increase  in  value  of,  87; 
yield  of  American,  92;  demoneti- 
zation of,  170;  see  Minerals. 

Sittai :  see  Maghara. 

Sindbad  :  voyages  of,  70. 

Sneferu  :  4;  pyramid  of,  6. 

Sokotra  :  Portuguese  occupy,  91. 

Spain:  mines  of,  41;  rise  of,  90; 
poverty  of,  99 ;  character  of  people 
of,  104;  decentralization  of,  106, 
107 ;  losses  by  piracy,  108 ;  recog- 
nizes independence  of  Holland, 
150  ;  war  of  United  States  with, 
192. 

Steelyard:  53,54. 

St.  Petersburg  :  founded,  143. 

St.  Quentin  :  position  of,  94. 

Suzdal :  62. 

Sweden :  war  with  Hanse,  137 ;  iron 
industry  of,  137,  138 ;  energy  of, 
138 ;  greatness  of,  141 ;  war  with 
Russia,  141,  142. 


Tabriz  :  27,  28. 

Teutonic  Order  :  foundation  of,  65  ; 
acquires  Dantzic,  65. 

Tiglat-Pileser  I.,  III. :  campaigns 
of,  17,  19. 

Tifi :  see  Minerals. 

Trade-routes :  basis  of  states,  2,  3 ; 
competitive,  2 ;  the  Ur,  7  ;  Pattala, 
8;  Lake  Balkash,  9;  Samarkand, 
9;  Terek  Pass,  9;  SjT-Daria,  9; 
Kashgar,  9;  Bactra,  10;  northern 
Indian,  10;  three  leading  ancient, 
11;  Tyre  and  Sidon,  11;  Crete, 
Carthage,  Cadiz,  11;  Phoenician, 
14;  Lydian,  15;  Lake  Van,  17; 
Betlis,  17;  Tabriz,  18;  Greek,  22, 
23;  Black  Sea,  26;  Athens  and 
Corinth,  35  ;  mediaeval  European, 
45,  46,  47 ;  converge  at  Augsburg, 
52;  Semmering  and  Brenner,  58; 
Rhine  and  Elbe,  59 ;  Kieff-Nov- 
gorod,  60 ;  Liibeck  and  Hamburg, 
62 ;  northern  movement  of,  in 
Russia,  63 ;  Volga,  64 ;  Hanseatic, 
66 ;  to  Champagne,  68 ;  sea,  to 
Venice  and  Flanders,  69 ;  ocean,  to 


INDEX 


243 


China,  71 ;  Eastern  after  1200,  73  ; 
eastern  branch  at  Nile,  73 ;  North 
Sea,  73;  Da  Gama's,  90,  91; 
Scheldt  and  Seine,  93,  94;  closing 
of,  to  Champagne,  96 ;  superseded, 
97;  English,  115;  Russian,  116; 
Mongol,  118  ;  Samarkand,  118  ; 
extension  of  Russian,  under  Ivan 
III.,  121;  by  White  Sea,  121,  122, 
Moscow  to  Persia,  122,  125 ;  de- 
scribed by  Jenkinson,  130;  Sibe- 
rian, 131,  133;  Nertchinsk,  133; 
English,  134 ;  Moscow-Peking,  134 ; 
Moscow-Samarkand,  135 ;  Mos- 
cow, Berlin,  Hamburg,  140,  147; 
Peter  opens  route  to  Caspian,  143 ; 
Polish,  Warsaw,  146, 147 ;  Cracow, 
Vistula,  147 ;  Napoleon's  attack  on 
English,  161 ;  problem  of  Napo- 
leon and  Alexander  concerning, 
166;  American,  167;  America  and 
Japan,  187 ;  Korea  flanks  Russian, 

195- 
Trave  :    62. 
Troy :  siege  of,  20. 
Troyes  :  94. 
Tyre  :  siege  of,  37,  38, 

U 
Untied  States  :  see  America. 
Ur :  T,  economic  system  of,  12. 


Van:  Lake,  16;  description  of,  17, 
19. 

Van  Artevelde  :  97. 

Vasco  da  Gama  :  effects  of  discovery 
of,  86 ;  lucrative  voyage  of,  in  1503, 
91. 

Venice:  rise  of,  52;  port  of  Germany 
on  Mediterranean,  54 ;  trade-routes 
of,  58;  ocean  trade  to  Flanders, 
69 ;  decline  of,  after  1500,  90 ;  in- 
jured by  closing  of  Red  Sea,  91. 

Vladimir  :  64. 

Vladivostok :  founded,  133 ;  troops 
sent  to,  by  sea,  185. 

W 

Warsaw:  147. 

William  of  Rubruck :  10. 

Wis6y  :  importance  of,  53. 


X 

Xerxes :  wars  of,  34. 


Yarkand:  9. 

Yermak :  conquers  Siberia,  131. 


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"  It  is  preeminently  a  timely  book,  but  will  also  have  a  perma- 
nent value."  —  New  York  Times. 

"  His  reasoning  is  sound  and  his  data  are  correct  .  .  .  refresh- 
ing to  read  him.     He  stimulates  thinking."  —  Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"  A  thoughtful  study  of  existing  economic  situations,  illustrated 
by  current  facts  and  the  history  of  the  past.  ...  A  book  for 
thoughtful  study  by  the  intelligent  American  people." 

—  Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

"  Mr.  Adams  has  a  largeness  of  view  commensurate  with  the 
world-wide  scope  of  the  problems  he  is  discussing.  His  argu- 
ment is  interesting  and  suggestive."  —  ATew  York  Tribune. 

"A  discussion  of  a  question  which  cannot  fail  to  be  interesting 
to  every  American.  .  .  .  Full  of  interesting  ideas  and  significant 
sentences.  .  .  .  Such  books  as  this  should  be  widely  read  and 
thoughtfully  discussed."  —  Washington  Times. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,   NEW  YORK 


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